Podcasts about this sustainable life

Josh Spodek disconnected his Manhattan apartment from the electric grid in May 2022. Over time, he has reduced his consumption and contribution to landfill. His new book argues that sustainability is not a sacrifice but an upgrade that can bring joy and increased quality of life. The book traces his journey to live more sustainably in a Manhattan apartment but also offers an argument about politics. He asks what narratives are already available to frame environmental degradation deploying a wide range of sources from John Locke to indigenous thinkers. Spodek, doubtful about governments or corporations leading on the environment, favors bottom up change focused on the actions and leadership of individuals. Sustainability Simplified: The Definitive Guide to Solving All (Yes, All) Our Environmental Problems (Amplify, 2025) explores the importance of culture and habit. How did the United States and other nations adopt polluting and passive habits? What can be done to reverse these cultural norms? The solutions range from a WWII level mobilization to a Constitutional Amendment. Dr. Josh Spodek earned a PhD in Physics and an MBA in entrepreneurial leadership from Columbia University. He is a four-time TEDx speaker author (Initiative and Leadership Step by Step), and leadership coach. He hosts the This Sustainable Life podcast. He has been an Adjunct Professor at New York University. A 2024 recent New York Times article highlights his life changes in Who Says You Can't Live Off the Grid in Manhattan? Mentioned: NOAA's interactive sea level rise map. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Eric Williams's Capitalism & Slavery (3rd edition, University of North Carolina Press, 1994) Works of Steven Pinker Spodek Method Susan's research on Locke's Enough and as Good from Perspectives on Politics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Josh Spodek disconnected his Manhattan apartment from the electric grid in May 2022. Over time, he has reduced his consumption and contribution to landfill. His new book argues that sustainability is not a sacrifice but an upgrade that can bring joy and increased quality of life. The book traces his journey to live more sustainably in a Manhattan apartment but also offers an argument about politics. He asks what narratives are already available to frame environmental degradation deploying a wide range of sources from John Locke to indigenous thinkers. Spodek, doubtful about governments or corporations leading on the environment, favors bottom up change focused on the actions and leadership of individuals. Sustainability Simplified: The Definitive Guide to Solving All (Yes, All) Our Environmental Problems (Amplify, 2025) explores the importance of culture and habit. How did the United States and other nations adopt polluting and passive habits? What can be done to reverse these cultural norms? The solutions range from a WWII level mobilization to a Constitutional Amendment. Dr. Josh Spodek earned a PhD in Physics and an MBA in entrepreneurial leadership from Columbia University. He is a four-time TEDx speaker author (Initiative and Leadership Step by Step), and leadership coach. He hosts the This Sustainable Life podcast. He has been an Adjunct Professor at New York University. A 2024 recent New York Times article highlights his life changes in Who Says You Can't Live Off the Grid in Manhattan? Mentioned: NOAA's interactive sea level rise map. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Eric Williams's Capitalism & Slavery (3rd edition, University of North Carolina Press, 1994) Works of Steven Pinker Spodek Method Susan's research on Locke's Enough and as Good from Perspectives on Politics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Josh Spodek disconnected his Manhattan apartment from the electric grid in May 2022. Over time, he has reduced his consumption and contribution to landfill. His new book argues that sustainability is not a sacrifice but an upgrade that can bring joy and increased quality of life. The book traces his journey to live more sustainably in a Manhattan apartment but also offers an argument about politics. He asks what narratives are already available to frame environmental degradation deploying a wide range of sources from John Locke to indigenous thinkers. Spodek, doubtful about governments or corporations leading on the environment, favors bottom up change focused on the actions and leadership of individuals. Sustainability Simplified: The Definitive Guide to Solving All (Yes, All) Our Environmental Problems (Amplify, 2025) explores the importance of culture and habit. How did the United States and other nations adopt polluting and passive habits? What can be done to reverse these cultural norms? The solutions range from a WWII level mobilization to a Constitutional Amendment. Dr. Josh Spodek earned a PhD in Physics and an MBA in entrepreneurial leadership from Columbia University. He is a four-time TEDx speaker author (Initiative and Leadership Step by Step), and leadership coach. He hosts the This Sustainable Life podcast. He has been an Adjunct Professor at New York University. A 2024 recent New York Times article highlights his life changes in Who Says You Can't Live Off the Grid in Manhattan? Mentioned: NOAA's interactive sea level rise map. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Eric Williams's Capitalism & Slavery (3rd edition, University of North Carolina Press, 1994) Works of Steven Pinker Spodek Method Susan's research on Locke's Enough and as Good from Perspectives on Politics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

After Dark with Hosts Rob & Andrew – Josh Spodek shares his latest journey of becoming a New York City Auxiliary police officer during his recent appearance on "After Dark." Known for his sustainable lifestyle and leadership, Spodek explains how this unexpected step aligns with his values. Dive deeper into his story and motivation in episode 781 of his podcast, “This Sustainable Life.”

After Dark with Hosts Rob & Andrew – Josh Spodek shares his latest journey of becoming a New York City Auxiliary police officer during his recent appearance on "After Dark." Known for his sustainable lifestyle and leadership, Spodek explains how this unexpected step aligns with his values. Dive deeper into his story and motivation in episode 781 of his podcast, “This Sustainable Life.”

If no one is changing culture in your world, it's your opportunity to fill the leadership vacuum, no matter where you are in your organization or communities.Many companies are making strides toward goals for greening their businesses but need to find ways to maintain the momentum now that they have tackled the easiest challenges. Others are about to embark on their sustainability journeys and seek a roadmap and best practices. Increasing regulations, particularly in Europe and the U.S., and demands from investors are pressing businesses to define, monitor and publish their net zero targets and green their practices and products.The IPCC reports that there is a closing window in which global citizens can mobilize to reduce carbon emissions and hope to achieve the target needed to stabilize the climate. It is becoming clear that it is up to leaders to transform corporate and political cultures to meet these inside and outside pressures. The webinar panel featured guest speakers:Lorna Davis, TED Speaker, Coach and Board Member, created largest B-Corp on Earth (Danone USA)Gautam Mukunda, Author, Podcast Host, Senior Advisor, America's Frontier Fund and Professor at Harvard and YaleMichael Ventura, Advisor, Author of Applied Empathy, Entrepreneur and Keynote Speaker​Bob Inglis​, former U.S. Congressman for South Carolina, Executive Director of RepublicEN, leader of EcoRightThey shared success stories and lessons learned: how they got reluctant board members, voters, and employees on board; what products and processes they prioritized and how; how they held suppliers accountable; what worked; and what didn't. Speakers discussed their journeys and answered questions. If you are a senior executive responsible for mobilizing your organization's sustainability initiative, a shareholder who realizes her investment companies' efforts need a boost, a citizen considering running for office, or a board member who wants to catalyze the greening process, you'll enjoy this lively panel.Moderated by Joshua Spodek PhD MBA, a premier voice in sustainability leadership, host of the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, four-time TEDx speaker https://joshuaspodek.com/tedx, bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, professor at NYU, and leadership coach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See the video for this episode here.I speak about the concept of a constitutional amendment on the environment with former guests on the This Sustainable Life podcast:Michael Herz: Constitutional scholar and former lawyer for the Environmental Defense Fund (Michael's podcast episodes)James Oakes: US historian, focusing on the Revolutionary War to Reconstruction (James's podcast episodes)We approach the concept from many perspectives, especially comparing it with the Thirteenth Amendment.This is my first conversation with two experts on a topic I'm just starting to learn about based on very detailed fields, including law, history, abolitionism, and politics. I have to start somewhere. We recorded this conversation months ago and I've learned tremendously since. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Action Plan: https://jimharshawjr.com/ACTION Free Clarity Call: https://jimharshawjr.com/APPLY  Stop waiting for the perfect moment to start. Joshua Spodek is back on the show to share how to achieve sustainable success through taking the leap of faith and taking action.  Are you someone who has big dreams but struggles with taking action? Do you find yourself constantly waiting for the perfect moment to start something, only to realize that moment never comes?  Join me and bestselling author Joshua Spodek in this episode of the Success Through Failure podcast as we explore the power of just getting started, even when success seems uncertain. With a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, Joshua has accomplished many impressive feats. He's the host of the award-winning podcast, “This Sustainable Life,” he's a 4x TEDx speaker, he's a professor at NYU, he has five Ivy League degrees, and he's been published in The New Yorker, Time Magazine Inc., Psychology Today, and has been called the “best and brightest” by Esquire's Genius issue.   These achievements were only possible because he took action and didn't let fear hold him back. Through the lens of sustainability, Joshua encourages you to live by your values and start small, and that success is the byproduct of taking action and learning from failure.  Discover how to overcome analysis paralysis and start living your best life— sustainably! Tune in now. If you don't have time to listen to the entire episode or if you hear something that you like but don't have time to write it down, be sure to grab your free copy of the Action Plan from this episode— as well as get access to action plans from EVERY episode— at http://www.JimHarshawJr.com/Action.    

Joshua Spodek PhD MBA hosts the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, is a four-time TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, professor at NYU, published in the New Yorker, and leadership coach.   He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite (having emerged from some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods). He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations.   He teaches and coaches leadership and entrepreneurship at NYU and Columbia Business School. He has spoken at Harvard, Princeton, West Point, Google, IBM, The New York Academy of Science, Children's Aid Society, and other renowned institutions.   He has been published in The New Yorker, TIME, Inc., Quartz, and Psychology Today. Featured in pieces every major network, the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and more, he has been called “best and brightest” in Esquire's Genius issue, “astrophysicist turned new media whiz” by NBC, and “rocket scientist” by Forbes.   He visited North Korea twice, swam across the Hudson River twice, has done burpees daily since 2011 (195,000 and counting), takes 3 years to produce one load of garbage, hasn't flown (by choice) since March 2016, is in his second year with his refrigerator unplugged and sixth month with his apartment unplugged from the electric grid, and his carbon footprint is about 1 ton per year. He blogs daily at joshuaspodek.com.   His social media tools: twitter and facebook.   The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here.    Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.   Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.  The 11th 100 mile walk campaign will continue until the summer, find more info via de 100mile.org website. Or go straight to our fundraising page.  

How a NYC man managed to quit using his fridge! Guest: Josh Spodek - Hosts the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, is a four-time TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, professor at NYU

Today we continued our discussion about Hawaii being a case study for the direction the entire world is going: pollution leading to reducing the capacity for our planet to sustain life. Joshua Spodek is host of This Sustainable Life podcast and author of Leadership Step By Step. He guided me once again through exploring my own feelings while stopping me from evading negative feelings about my own pollution and instead exploring them. It ended up being a great conversation on sustainability! Tune in! Find Joshua Spodek Online: Joshua Spodek's Homepage Subscribe to This Sustainable Life Podcast Josh Spodek's Book, Leadership Step By Step Find me online: This Sustainable Life: Solve For Nature Podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature Blog: https://verdantgrowth.blog/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24IiwM0BPQ-_3DVz2KnuVw Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerdantGrowth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realverdantgrowth Instagram: http://instagram.com/verdant.growth or http://instagram.com/verdantgrowthofficial --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature/support

Janet shared how she found This Sustainable Life, what kept her coming back, the guests she liked, and how it's affected her. I wish I had recorded episodes with listeners before to learn what you all like, don't like, and want more or less of.Listening to it after recording, I consider our conversation one of the most accessible for new listeners. Janet described various aspects of it that I suspect will resonate with many listeners.One thing that hit me was how the podcast restored her enthusiasm to act. Years ago she acted as much as she could on sustainability, to the point of picking up fruit rinds people had littered to put in compost. She didn't act for internal reasons but external, so she burned out and stopped acting. Then she found This Sustainable Life and it restored fun to acting. She does it for the joy of it, which keeps her going, gives her energy, not feeling like giving up.Plus she did the Spodek Method, so you'll hear what she commits to do more.If you are a listener and would like to be a guest, contact me and let me know.Blake HaxtonTom SzakyBob LangertBehind the Mic / Sex, Drugs, and Rock and RollJames Rebanks Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I have something a little different for you. Usually, I'm interviewing someone on my podcast, but today, I'm the one getting interviewed! Some of you may know, I recently moved to Hawaii and ended up buying a home here. However, in looking for a house, I found myself feeling conflicted about it, and Joshua Spodek, host of This Sustainable Life podcast, suggested we talk about it. It was a good conversation that forced me to explore some of my own feelings about sustainability conflicting with my own personal wants for me, my wife, and my daughter. I hope some of you out there can relate to the feelings I felt, and I hope the conversation is helpful to some of you! Find Joshua Spodek Online: Joshua Spodek's Homepage Subscribe to This Sustainable Life Podcast Josh Spodek's Book, Leadership Step By Step Find me online: This Sustainable Life: Solve For Nature Podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature Blog: https://verdantgrowth.blog/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24IiwM0BPQ-_3DVz2KnuVw Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerdantGrowth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realverdantgrowth Instagram: http://instagram.com/verdant.growth or http://instagram.com/verdantgrowthofficial --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature/support

Biologist Paul Ehrlich reflects on the 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, on its 50th anniversary – including the fact that it has been refuted (poorly), ignored, and confirmed. The study was done by a team of scientists commissioned by the Club of Rome to develop a computer model to simulate the interaction of earth and human systems. It revealed that continuation of the then-current trends in population, industrialization, resource use and pollution would result in overshooting the carrying capacity of the Earth and result in a general collapse at some point in the first half of the 21st century. The study results were published in the 1972 book, The Limits to Growth, which holds the record as the top-selling environmental book. The book was authored by four system dynamics scientists (Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens III). Gaya Herrington, whose 2020 analysis of The Limits to Growth was published in Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology, described the study and book aptly: “the authors identified society's relentless pursuit of growth not as the solution to, but the cause of, so many of the environmental and social crises that plague humanity still today.” “....what is it about Homo sapiens that leads us to the limits as a moth to a flame.  Why don't we stop?  Why should we?  Can we?”   – Brian Czech, Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy Read The Limits to Growth: Online Read, but includes scans of pages and downloadable charts https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-diplomatic.html High Quality Scan https://collections.dartmouth.edu/content/deliver/inline/meadows/pdf/meadows_ltg-001.pdf Mentioned in Our Discussion of The Limits to Growth: Limits to Growth 50th Anniversary Events - on Club of Rome website https://www.clubofrome.org/ltg50-events/ UN Event June 2-3: Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity View live on the web: https://www.stockholm50.global/events/programme The Stockholm+50 Conference: What You Need to Know and Why It Matters https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/the-stockholm50-conference-what-you-need-to-know-and-why-it-matters/ Take this survey before June 2: https://www.stockholm50.global/state-planet-global-public-survey June 10 seminar: Limits to Growth +50: Can Economies Keep Growing Indefinitely on a Finite Planet? Organized by: Norwegian University of Life Sciences https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/landsam/department/noragric/research/seminars/node/44433 The Limits to Growth at 50: From Scenarios to Unfolding Reality - by Richard Heinberg https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-24/the-limits-to-growth-at-50-from-scenarios-to-unfolding-reality/ Limits and Beyond (New book April 2022 from the Club of Rome, a collection of essays) https://exapt.press/books/limits-and-beyond Nate Hagens interviews Dennis Meadows in his podcast, The Great Simplification. https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/12-dennis-meadows Dennis Meadows on the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of The Limits to Growth - interview by Richard Heinberg https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-22/dennis-meadows-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-publication-of-the-limits-to-growth/ Is Global Collapse Imminent? – by Graham Turner (2014) The Limits to Growth “standard run” (or business-as-usual, BAU) scenario produced in 1972 aligns well with historical data that has been updated in this paper https://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/2763500/MSSI-ResearchPaper-4_Turner_2014.pdf Update to Limits to Growth: Comparing the World3 Model with Empirical Data - by Gaya Herrington https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.13084 Come On! Capitalism, Short-termism, Population and the Destruction of the Planet - by Anders Wijkman and Ersnt Von Weizscker and with contributions from more than 30 members of the Club of Rome https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/come-capitalism-short-termism-population-destruction-planet/ What a 50-year-old World Model Tells Us About a Way Forward Today - by  Gaya Herrington, now vice president of ESG Research at Schneider Electric and member of The Club of Rome's Transformational Economics Commission https://www.clubofrome.org/blog-post/herrington-ltg50/ In this episode, we also discuss these “growthbusting news” items: Walk Or Cycle Instead of Driving, Urges Ford Boss https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/05/16/walk-or-cycle-instead-of-driving-urges-ford-boss/?sh=2283c3ba3481 New flight of fancy for billionaires – the Air Yacht https://theuglyminute.com/2022/05/11/air-yacht/ Back From a Touring Hiatus, Coldplay Pledges to Make Performances More Sustainable https://www.npr.org/2022/05/14/1098947216/back-from-a-touring-hiatus-coldplay-pledges-to-make-performances-more-sustainabl The European Environmental Bureau has launched a campaign calling on the EU to refocus from GDP Growth to Wellbeing Campaign Page: https://eeb.org/doughnuteconomicsforall/ https://meta.eeb.org/2022/05/12/doughnut-economics-how-to-bake-a-better-future/ The 25% Revolution - film https://vimeo.com/535791169 GrowthBusters Called Me Extreme, So I Responded - episode of This Sustainable Life podcast by Joshua Spodek https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/this-sustainable-life-593342/episodes/583-growthbusters-called-me-ex-139440528 Mobilising Humanity Film Premier at COP26 - Ed Gemmel described his nightmare in this episode of the Planet in Crisis podcast from Scientists Warning Europe https://planetincrisis.libsyn.com/30-mobilising-humanity-film-premier-at-cop26 Give Us Feedback: Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400 Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/ On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth. Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy. Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/ Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/ Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:

Paul Laycock spent time with Eugene Bible host of This Sustainable Life; Solve through Nature podcast series, sharing his thoughts on how digitalization supports sustainable building practices and the importance of connecting data through the building lifecycle to reduce waste and step towards net zero.

While nary a week goes by that we don't get a new report of the destruction we're wreaking on our home planet, the news has been particularly bad over the last few weeks. Plus: Bill Maher, usually praised by us for speaking the truth, needs to get there on the benefits of a shrinking economy. We devote half of this episode to the news, and half to our swelling file of listener feedback. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Population Decline is Part of the Solution - YouTube video (by GrowthBusters)https://youtu.be/XXyyCY5IM6Q Paul Ehrlich, Unfiltered – Episode 68 of the GrowthBusters podcasthttps://www.growthbusters.org/paul-ehrlich-unfiltered/ GrowthBusters Campus Tourhttps://www.growthbusters.org/campus-tour/ 8 Billion Angels – documentary produced by Terry Spahrhttps://8billionangels.org/ Can Living a 1.5 Degree Lifestyle Make a Difference? - Episode 66 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Lloyd Alterhttps://www.growthbusters.org/can-1-5-degree-lifestyle-matter/ Obsessive-Compulsive's Guide to Cutting Your Carbon Footprint - Episode 67 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Lloyd Alterhttps://www.growthbusters.org/cutting-carbon-footprint/ This Sustainable Life podcast with Josh Spodekhttps://joshuaspodek.com/podcast 7th Generation Initiative / Sustainability Project (Mike Nickerson)http://www.sustainwellbeing.net/ Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as If We Want to Stay – by Mike Nickersonhttp://www.sustainwellbeing.net/what_the_book_is_about.html More Fun, Less Stuff- Episode 55 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Mike Nickersonhttps://www.growthbusters.org/more-fun-less-stuff/ Al Bartlett's Laws Relating to Sustainabilityhttps://www.albartlett.org/articles/art_reflections_part_5.html Where Lawns Are Outlawed (and Dug Up, and Carted Away)https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/climate/las-vegas-lawn-grass-ban.html As Climate Fears Mount, Some in U.S. Are Deciding to Relocatehttps://e360.yale.edu/features/as-climate-fears-mount-some-in-u.s.-are-deciding-to-relocate Chronic Land Degradation: UN Offers Stark Warnings and Practical Remedies in Global Land Outlook 2https://www.unccd.int/resources/global-land-outlook/overview Humanity Entering ‘Spiral of Self-Destruction', UN Warnshttps://www.france24.com/en/environment/20220426-humanity-entering-spiral-of-self-destruction-warns-un-disaster-agency?ref=tw Latest IPCC Report Skips Population Growth in Summary for Policymakers, but Highlights it in Full Report and Technical Summaryhttps://overpopulation-project.com/population-in-the-ipccs-new-mitigation-report/ GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo Give Us Feedback: Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400 Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/ On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth. Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy. Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/ Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/ Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:

Did you know that climate mitigation models show that the only scenarios that avoid dangerous climate change are those which assume global population peaks in the next decade and then declines? Why is no-one talking about this? Luckily for us and the future of the planet, PGAP's two guests for this episode, Professor Ian Lowe and Doctor Jane O'Sullivan, have written a new discussion paper ‘Population and Climate Change.' Co-written with Doctor Peter Cook and commissioned by Sustainable Population Australia, this new report uses clear concise language with thorough scientific research to make a very strong case for the role that population plays in this warming world. PGAP speaks with Jane and Ian to unwrap the key points behind the discussion paper and to find out more about the stories behind these two inspiring people. The discussion paper ‘Population and Climate Change' can be downloaded from the Sustainable Population Australia website here (https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/climate/). You can find out more about SPA and their recent campaigns here (https://population.org.au/lets-rethink-big-australia/) and here (https://population.org.au/how-you-can-make-a-difference/). Ian was recently interviewed on ABC's Radio National Science Show on the ‘Population and Climate Change' discussion paper here (https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/human-population-the-driver-of-greenhouse-emissions-and-all-env/13771554). As a patron for Sustainable Population Australia, Ian was also interviewed for SPA's ‘Meet the Patrons' series of short videos here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3JW6-7O5EU&list=PLqZhQi8eQurRR5xL6xP9qGgyStq4xkVNt&index=4). Ian's interview can be heard between 00:07:10 and 00:29:52 Jane has just had a very topical article published in The Overpopulation Project: “Ukraine war: temporary glitch or tipping point?” (https://overpopulation-project.com/ukraine-war-temporary-glitch-or-tipping-point/) Last year, she was guest on the award winning US based podcast “This Sustainable Life” (https://podcasts.apple.com/br/podcast/483-jane-osullivan-debunking-the-aging-problem-scam/id1320141457?i=1000527935727&l=en) to discuss SPA's previous commissioned report “Silver Tsunami Or Silver Lining (https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/ageing/): Why We Should Not Fear an Ageing Population” - which Jane authored. Jane's interview can be heard between 00:33:08 and 01: 01: 50 I note that the New Economy Network Australia (NENA) were very kind in sharing the ‘Population and Climate Change' discussion paper. Their director, Dr. Michelle Maloney was one of the first guests on PGAP and both Jane and I have presented at NENA run conferences. NENA is collaborating with Griffith University's Yunus Centre to deliver a short course: " Building the Wellbeing Economy: Foundations for Learning and Practice." The course brings together 21 thought-leaders over 8 weeks to discuss how we might reshape the economy in which both people and the planet thrive. This is critical for any Post-Growth person to consider. To register go here (https://www.neweconomy.org.au/courses/building-a-wellbeing-economy-2022/), or follow the poster below! Loved the episode? Hated it? Love the episode but hate PGAP? Firecely undecided? We'd love to hear your (constructive) thoughts and feedback by contacting us here (https://pgap.fireside.fm/contact). Word of mouth is our main tool to crack the mainstream, so please consider sharing this episode, subscribe to PGAP (https://pgap.fireside.fm/subscribe) or rate and reviewing this episode on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/post-growth-australia-podcast/id1522194099). Want to find out more about the host? Check out my website here (https://michaelbayliss.org/). Special Guests: Dr. Jane O'Sullivcan and Prof. Ian Lowe.

I decided to avoid putting screens on while I ate for a month. I expected to enjoy my food more, to find the euphoria I often feel from fresh, healthy food. I was surprised to find more the feeling of wanting to open a screen: a silky, seductive feeling that said, "It's good to turn on the screen. It's bad not to watch. You'll waste time if you don't put the screen on." The feeling came from inside.I've felt that feeling before, but I felt more conscious of it this time. I wasn't selling-family-heirlooms-to-fuel-the-habit level addicted, but I felt the feelings enough to explore them. I share them in this episode, and how we've built our society and culture around profiting from creating those feelings in doof, social media, travel, online shopping, and increasing parts of modern life. It's sickening.The challenge arose in training Conrad Ruiz, the newest host of the This Sustainable Life podcast family. He hasn't posted his first episode yet. I'll announce it on my blog. He led me through the Spodek Method as part of his training. Normally the first time someone practices, we don't record, but this experience affected me to where I wanted to share my experience. Regular blog readers know my interest in understanding addiction since I see most of our continuing behaviors that pollute, that we know are killing others, is addiction most people would consciously say they aren't but they are.It's hard enough to stop someone addicted from their habit when they don't want to or if they don't think they're addicted. How about 330 million people, or 7.9 billion, who don't even realize they're doing anything in the realm of addiction? Few people think their watching TV or flying is an addiction. Few see using the cell phone as something worth avoiding, even as they use it five hours or more a day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I hope you know Climate Town. Watch a bunch of episodes if you haven't. This Sustainable Life listeners and hosts talk about the show. It's funny and fun, yet intelligent and informative. On top of the content, I watch the backgrounds, which often take place where I live in lower Manhattan and where I went to school, at Columbia, where Rollie went to.So I contacted him and his team. We spoke. Within minutes I could tell why Climate Town is so funny. He and his team are funny. Immediately, I could tell I could learn from them.Here he is. We talk about his and his shows' origins and goals. I always thought he was a scientist making humor. He's a humorist taking on science, but not just a little. Enough to go to graduate school for it. That's serious commitment to his craft. (I think he cares more about the environment than he says, but you can judge for yourself).You'll hear commonalities and differences between us. For example, how to influence others and especially population. I describe the Spodek Method with him. You'll hear his commitment and some anticipation of conflict or synthesis in our next episode.Plus, he's funny throughout. This episode isn't as funny and incisive as a typical Climate Town episode, but more of that than one of my normal episode, since Rollie brings it.Climate TownSweatpantsJames Burk's "The Greatest Shot in Television" See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Get married, buy a house, raise a family. For many of us, that's the expected life trajectory. Are we entitled to meet that expectation? If many follow the typical trajectory, including having two or more children, then we drive human civilization right off a cliff. On an overpopulated planet, does society have an obligation to make parenthood possible, practical, convenient, and/or affordable to all? Public policy on the table in the U.S. today is designed to make it easier for couples to have children. Ethicist Philip Cafaro joins us to discuss the motivations behind these policies and the moral questions about whether people are “entitled” to have children on an overpopulated planet. In this episode, we hear some unenlightened statements about U.S. population from U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, including inviting listeners to conclude U.S. population is declining (it is not), and a healthy dose of depopulation panic. Cafaro is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an affiliated faculty member of CSU's School of Global Environmental Sustainability. He's also written a couple of books about human overpopulation, and he is co-founder of The Overpopulation Project. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: The Overpopulation Project https://overpopulation-project.com/ Just Population Policies for an Overpopulated World - by Philip Cafaro https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf Climate Ethics and Population Policy - by Philip Cafaro https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264492830_Climate_ethics_and_population_policy Climate Ethics and Population Policy: A Review of Recent Philosophical Work - by Philip Cafaro https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.748 Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change Are Affecting the Morality of Procreation – by Travis Rieder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29846041-toward-a-small-family-ethic Moral Basis for Small Families: Travis Rieder - Episode #206 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/moral-basis-small-families-travis-rieder-206/ Public Policy Brakes on Procreation? Travis Rieder - Episode #207 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/public-policy-brakes-procreation-travis-rieder-207/ One Child: Do We Have a Right to More – by Sarah Conly https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308950-one-child Stuck in Traffic? Head to Mars - Episode 63 of GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/stuck-in-traffic-head-to-mars/ 8 Billion Angels – documentary film https://8billionangels.org/ Earth Overshoot https://www.earthovershoot.org/ Sustainable Population Australia https://population.org.au/ Time's 2021 Person of the Year Elon Musk Is So Wrong – by Simon Cole https://equanimity.blog/2021/12/29/times-2021-person-of-the-year-elon-musk-is-so-wrong/ Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival – by Richard Heinberg https://power.postcarbon.org/ Ice Shelf Holding Back Antarctica's ‘Doomsday Glacier', Is Fracturing And ‘Won't Last Long', Scientists Warn https://au.yahoo.com/news/ice-shelf-holding-back-antarctica-184346587.html Human Consciousness – by Robert Bolman https://robertbolman.com/human-consciousness/ This Sustainable Life podcast – by Joshua Spodek https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast Don't Call Doof Food: Systemic Change Begins with Personal Change – Joshua Spodek TEDx Talkhttps://youtu.be/L4OAaI_uXgY GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo Give Us Feedback: Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400 Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/ On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth. Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy. Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/ Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/ Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:

“I started bringing leadership into the environment. Because I felt like there's a lot of people telling other people what to do, spreading facts and figures. But no-one really making it enjoyable. Saying you're going to like this, you're going to wish you started earlier, speaking from personal experience.” Joshua Spodek (https://joshuaspodek.com/)is a bestseller author, multiple TEDx talker and host of award winning podcast “This Sustainable Life (https://joshuaspodek.com/leadership-and-the-environment-top-downloads)”. Joshua is a huge advocate for the environment and for system change toward a post-growth planet. He takes his politics into his home life and made some incredible life transformations in his mission to living more sustainably. So, how has a move toward a meat-free life of no food packaging and no plane miles played out for our special guest on the Season 3 Premiere of PGAP? Is this a life of wilful deprivation and martyrdom? Or have these personal challenges transformed his life into one of joy and a different kind of abundance? Joshua tells all through amusing personal anecdotes coupled with an incredibly well-read and researched outlook on the world. “We have to change ourselves if we expect others to change. Being right is….really annoying.” - Joshua Spodek Welcome back to Post-Growth Australia Podcast after a brief hiatus. I for one am very honoured to be launching the Season 3 Premiere of PGAP with such as distinguished guest as Joshua Spodek. His long history in public speaking alone will ensure that your ears are serenaded for the next 60 minutes! A cursory viewing of any of his TEDx talks will prove my point: here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GMTpaxlLGg); here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTYiHr1lu10); or here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb3nwRZmKBo); You may also have noticed that PGAP has had a bit of face-lift, with an update to the graphics courtesy of Squeaky Pea designs. I hope you like the changes! Looking forward to a mammoth season 3 with a stellar array of amazing guests. The new intro sounds for Season 3 PGAP provided courteousy of Perth composer Nicholas Gardiner. Find out more here (https://www.nicholasgardiner.com/). “Growth on its own means always craving what you don't have. It means craving. It means ‘never satisfied'.” – Joshua Spodek I first discovered Joshua big time when he interviewed my colleague from Sustainable Population Australia (https://population.org.au/), Dr. Jane O'Sullivan (https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/4920)on his podcast ‘This Sustainable Life. (https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast)' Jane was invited to discuss a recent discussion paper she wrote for SPA debunking the ageing population crisis myth. ‘Silver Tsunami or Silver Lining: Why we should not fear an ageing population' is available on the SPA website (https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/ageing/) and makes for very eye-opening reading. The link to the interview can be found here. (https://joshuaspodek.com/guests/jane-osullivan) ‘This Sustainable Life' is an amazing podcast series where big name guests are invited to make personal changes to their lives – for the inspiration of all! I myself have an interview coming up on the offshoot podcast series ‘This Sustainable Life: Solve For Nature (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-sustainable-life-solve-for-nature/id1550434786).' Stay tuned! _ “Efficiency in a finite world with growth leads to scarcity.” _– Joshua Spodek In the introduction to this episode I brought up how Australia is facing a urea shortage which has potentially dire consequences for our diesel and trucking industries (whould woulda thunk?) If you are interested in reading more, have a gander here (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/08/what-is-urea-and-why-does-a-worldwide-shortage-threaten-australias-supply-chain). The above is just one symptom of what will soon be a much larger chain of supply chain issues and resource scarcity. Last month I shared around this article “It's Not a Supply Chain Crisis — It's a Failing Economy” (https://eand.co/its-not-a-supply-chain-crisis-it-s-a-failing-economy-b5f8aee2064c?gi=c506c568186d) on my Twitter feed just in time for the festive season! Want me to discuss limits to growth at YOUR next festive event? Pick up the phone - I'm a literal SCREAM at parties! _ “next time you're stuck in Traffic, next time you're waiting in line some place, imagine a world of 2 billion people.”_ Sustainable Population Australia, who support this podcast, aren't claiming to turn the world's numbers back to 2 billion overnight, but they are loudly advocating for an equitable world with equitable access to family planning and reproductive health services. They are also advocating to decouple population policy in Australia from the narrow interests of big business and big finance. Have a look at their ‘Let's Rethink Big Australia' (https://population.org.au/lets-rethink-big-australia/) campaign. “my swimming upstream makes it so that others feel they're swimming downstream – and then it feels like I'm swimming downstream as well.” If you loved this episode we have some choice PGAP recommendations for you. Amrit Sandhu from Season 2 'Inspired Evolution' (https://pgap.fireside.fm/inspiredevolution) episode is also a podcast host and a personal transformation coach. Meg and Patrick from Artist as Family, who premiered season 2 (https://pgap.fireside.fm/artistasfamily), live through example in their ‘neo-peasantry' homestead in Victoria, Australia. Lastly, Nandita Bajaj (https://pgap.fireside.fm/wpb), director of Population Balance, is another vegan in North America who lives a minimalist lifestyle and advocates for a sustainable population. Please remember to rate and review PGAP on Apple Podcast. (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/post-growth-australia-podcast/id1522194099) If you have any suggestions, feedback, or just want to say “hi' please feel free to contact me anytime on the contact form thus (https://pgap.fireside.fm/contact). Til next time, til then! Special Guest: Joshua Spodek.

Two of this podcast's top goals areTo bring leaders to share and act on their environmental values, from any area, but especially polluting fieldsTo help change culture from expecting sustainability is a chore or burden to expecting joy, lightness, freedom, and reward. Both happened in this episode.On the second, you'll hear when I invite Scott to act, he had something in mind (he knows This Sustainable Life!). It sounded extrinsically motivated so I asked if it connected with the values he had just shared. As we spoke, more personal things emerged. Do you hear a different level of interest and depth of motivation for his second task? Does it sound intrinsic and more motivating?I heard between the two commitments the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic, between leadership and management. Most of what passes for motivating people on sustainability in the media sounds to me more like coercion, implying people don't want to do it.On the first goal, Scott is the CEO/Founder of a company that sells fossil fuels. He chose to change his company. I haven't evaluated the effectiveness of his change. Plenty of companies and people, even with the most sincere intentions, mean to reduce pollution but don't. I'm only looking at him for leading his organization. How hard is the change? How easy? What does it take? How can we motivate more people and organizations polluting less?One lesson: companies want to follow consumer demand. If they don't hear it from you, they don't know to act. It helps no one for consumers to stay silent about their interest to pollute less. Communicate your interest so power companies can hear.He's taking risks and trying. He sounds like a role model.I would have liked more emphasis on reducing use. Nothing keeps fossil fuels in the ground like not taking them out in the first place. Here's my last electric bill:$1.44 for the customer charge. The rest is fixed fees I can't do much about. On life values, I'm as healthy and happy as anyone I know. I couldn't have imagined lowering this much, but now it's normal. Since systemic change begins with personal change, this change allows me to help others achieve it.If a power company had helped, I could have lowered long ago. Could IGS help consumers and businesses live healthily and happily consuming less, like most of the rest of the world? Are power companies motivated to help consumers reduce consumption? How many Americans realize that less power will improve their lives?While I'm at it, here's my evolving footprint compared to the U.S. and world.I see power companies as able to influence consumer behavior. Is it in any of their interests to motivate people using less? A lot less? If so, how? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Myanmar's military coup beginning February 1, 2021 made front-page news around the globe and remains there six months later. In Yangon, As Chief Investment Officer of one of the nation's largest conglomerates, Nevcan witnessed firsthand and lived through the events.She shares what happened, how citizens and foreigners responded, the issues from an insider view, and the scant hope of near-term resolution. Hearing how hours before the coup began, nobody outside the military knew it would happen, combined with the resulting deadlock and violence, one can't help but wonder how close any society is to slipping into chaos without a way out.I've known Nevcan since meeting her in business school a decade ago, so we speak openly. We also talk about her starting her branch of the This Sustainable Life podcast family, which will focus on global economic and finance leaders. I can't wait to hear her episodes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“Humankind is using up the biophysical basis of its own existence.” That's the bottom line of this Earth Overshoot Day conversation with William Rees, the father of ecological footprint analysis.  According to Rees, “the only way out of overshoot is less production and less consumption, so it means a much smaller economy and far fewer people.” Earth Overshoot Day in 2021 is July 29. At this point in the year, we've already demanded a year's worth of the Earth's sustainable regenerative capacity. LINKS: Pronatalism and Overpopulation: Challenging the Social Pressures to Procreatehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7FCMriyVEeMLd3ng0lMWDojlpIFkjuyV Earth Overshoot Day https://www.overshootday.org/ Global Footprint Network https://www.footprintnetwork.org/ This Sustainable Life podcast https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast Untucking Overpopulation with Alexandra Paul - Episode 62 of The Overpopulation Podcast https://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/podcasts/2021-06-02-episode-62-untucking-overpopulation-alexandra-paul Human Overpopulation: An Overview – Alexandra Paul presentation at San Diego State University https://sdsu.zoom.us/rec/play/s7FhvLVhomKSK4j66kW1XhIKOKO_4pR4Z_MrIFZhY6GGejMa9cedngAfqq4QGT1nB6IMacWdQa90kdOa.MU51GB96njRiOXW-?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=UaetWGlsSOaWSg-JoJ7VRw.1622056257385.2a26ec9ce8972216cf8b211a77a179f9&_x_zm_rhtaid=604 Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth – by William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/318225.Our_Ecological_Footprint The Overpopulation Podcast is produced by World Population Balance. We make the connections between overpopulation and the many vexing issues of the day. We make it possible for individuals and couples to make more fully informed and carefully considered family-size decisions. Smaller families are key to achieving a sustainable population and creating a more resilient and beautiful future. Overpopulation is one of the two main drivers of resource depletion, poverty, climate change, and species extinction. The good news: overpopulation is solvable - ethically, equitably and voluntarily. Join co-hosts Dave Gardner and Nandita Bajaj, along with occasional guest experts, as we shine a little light on this often misunderstood subject. Share Your Thoughts With Us Join the Sustainable Population Activists online community Join the Sustainable Population Meetup Receive Overpopulation Updates via email        

World Population Day may now be a week behind us, but its legacy lives on! In this episode, host Michael Bayliss talks to the new Executive Director of World Population Balance, Nandita Bajaj. WPB is a North American organisation dedicated to tackling the overpopulation issue through education, campaigns and podcasts – they are the makers of the Overpopulation Podcast after all! Nandita and Michael discovered they have many shared values beyond population including minimalism, being childfree and, most excitingly for both of us, we are big on veganism and animal rights! Therefore, our conversation goes in many pithy directions and intersections. Nandita also shares with PGAP her visions for the future of World Population Balance, her perspectives on the challenges of inclusion and diversity within the population sustainability movement, and her experiences growing up in the world's second most populous country India. I find it incredible that in 1 year, 24 episodes and 34 interviews I haven't yet had the ‘vegan chat' with any of my guests on PGAP. This all changed with Nandita! To celebrate this milestone, I play the song ‘Abolicion' from the Peru/Melbourne pop-punk project, Futuro Vegan Pop. The lead brains behind this musical project, Pedro Allemant, is a long-time friend of yours truly and a total inspiration in the animal activism sphere. I even played keyboards on a couple of Futuro songs back in ye days afore the COVID when we never ‘ad it so good. I also share my interview on Australian Talk Back radio following the excitement, confusion and hostility in the mainstream media after Population Matters ‘Change Champions' awards the other week. The media weren't that interested in the Women's Champion award that went to Wendo Aszed in Kenya, or Kohinur Khyum Tithila from Bangladesh who received the Media award. Rather, they were far more preoccupied with the special award given to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex who received a ‘special' award for stopping at two children. Anything to do with Harry and Meghan has a peculiar effect on our collective psyche, and it raises the question, is it better to avoid the royals and receive little attention, or include the royals and receive a lot of mostly hostile media attention? A philosophical musing indeed that still troubles me… Too much podcasting barely enough for you? Want to explore more of the adventures (or in my case misadventures) that were raised during this episode? GLAD YOU ASKED! This is a fancy way of saying I'm about to bombard you with a bunch of links. It's all in the phrasing... Find out more about World Population Balance here. (https://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/). If you haven't heard it yet, their The Overpopulation Podcast (https://www.worldpopulationbalance.org/podcasts) is a class act. WPB launched an online panel discussion: “Pronatalism and Overpopulation | Challenging The Social Pressures to Procreate” on the 07th of July for world population day, which Nandita discussed with me. On the day it was a bit late for Australian clocks, but the highlights can now be seen on WPB YouTube channel here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31KyVagVAoM&t=54s). My interview with Tom Elliot on Melbourne's 3AW Drive talk back radio is immortalised for all here. (https://www.3aw.com.au/harry-and-meghan-win-award-for-only-having-two-children/?fbclid=IwAR16Rz0FbOtpfFGPT-_4BlKx3pYAeNFSfK_F8s-NVemTYET-YnZ3KxRBnWI) It doesn't include all the callers afterward who called me a moron, which is always such a shame. If you are interested in finding out more about Population Matters' ‘Change Champions' award, you can find it here. (https://populationmatters.org/world-population-day-2021-change-champions?fbclid=IwAR3cFK-Lm_tPo6LW07FZWniCLv-TfNLPDar_uY3x5S17EQq_H8-6E_ke4QI) Interested in what Sustainable Population Australia had to say about World Population Day and why they believe the world cannot support another 2 billion people by 2050? This and more on their media release here. (https://population.org.au/media-releases/wpd2021/) SPA's very own Dr. Jane O'Sullivan is very popular. Firstly she was interviewed on the award winning ‘This Sustainable Life (https://joshuaspodek.com/guests/jane-osullivan)' podcast hosted by Joshua Spodeck. Jane debunks the ‘ageing population crisis' myths with Joshua as they explore SPA's discussion paper ‘Silver Tsunami or Silver Lining' (https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/ageing/) in which Jane was lead author. She was also a presneter at the World Population Day presentation and panel discussion –_ "What is a sustainable population? Why, when and what should we do about it?"_ This event was organised with Scientists Warning Europe, and a video of Jane's talk and the SWE media release can be found on the SPA website here. (https://population.org.au/swe_wpd_2021/) Find out more about Futuro Vegan Pop here (https://futuroveganpop.bandcamp.com/) You may be interested in listening to PGAP's last world population day special episode with SPA's John Coulter here. (https://pgap.fireside.fm/wpd2021) Last year we interviewed WPB's then ED Dave Gardner for our 2020 world population day special (https://pgap.fireside.fm/wpdpartb). Special Guest: Nandita Bajaj.

Hi, I am here with Joshua Spodek, He is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, and professor at NYU. He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite (having emerged from some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods). He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations.Ari Gronich 0:07  Welcome back to another episode of create a new tomorrow I am your host Ari Gronich and I have with me Josh spodek. Now, this is a guy I thought I had a pre interview with him, I was really excited to talk to him. He's a three time TEDx speaker, this guy has, he's a best selling author of this book initiative and leadership, step by step, the sustainable life podcast is award winning with that. Professor at NYU, you've even you know, taught leadership at West Point with the director of US Secretary of Defense, right?Joshua Spodek 0:47  Yes, he's since become the secretary defense. Is that because of working with me, I can't say for sure. Well,Ari Gronich 0:52  well, we'll get into that, we'll get into that. So tell us a little bit about your background and why leadership was such an important role. And the reason I want to preface this for the audience, the reason I'm so excited is because I am really looking at the deep dive into leadership and what makes people leaders, what makes people followers, and so on. So I'm really excited to have Josh here.Joshua Spodek 1:16  Well, glad to be here. And I'll start with a very brief part about beforehand. If you want to know more, let me know. Because growing up, I was pretty nerdy, pretty geeky, I got a PhD in physics, I helped build a satellite that's orbiting the Earth right now. And for a while I really thought physics, I want to be a physicist. And then I ended up leaving, after got my PhD to start my first company, and was very successful that was successful, then can the recession and it's difficult times, I got squeezed out by the investors, very painful experience. Could not by that point, I severed my ties with academia. So I couldn't really go back. I ended up going to business school. And that's where I found classes and leadership. Awesome. So weAri Gronich 2:01  talked about this a little bit. And in my, in my witnessing of the world, right, I feel like Kennedy was probably, at least as a president, the last great leader of our country. And the thing that I think made him a leader is not only did he bring people along with his vision, but he gave mandates he gave direction to those visions, he said, we're going to go to the moon by the end of the decade, go do that. And then all of a sudden, people started flocking to create what he kind of mandated, we should do. So where do you think that that's lacking in the leadership? And how does your you know your vision of leadership, address those kinds of things, so that we can move forward faster versus wait for another great leader to show up?Joshua Spodek 2:54  Okay, so I'm gonna take the last that you said there, what can we what can we do ourselves instead of just waiting for the next great leaders show up? Is it learning social and emotional skills, performance skills, is different than learning things about factual recall things that you can take verbal tests for write papers about, you can write papers about leadership, but the actual practice of it, you have to face you have to understand yourself, you have to learn empathy, compassion, listening, as well as confidence. And these are not things you can read your way into, or write your way into. SoAri Gronich 3:33  just to go on in my background, right? Every time I've ever had a position of leadership, it was in a style of master apprentice, right. So I had somebody who was teaching me how to be a leader. And then as a leader, I would be teaching somebody how to be what I'm doing, right. So I always had a master apprentice kind of relationship in that way. And it was very experiential. And I just want to kind of come back to what you just said, about doing the practice of, and knowing your traumas, or knowing your history, because I've always told people that what I'm doing trauma, work with them if you want to get on a camera, but you're afraid of what people will think of you. The only way to do that is to get on that camera with people who are safe. And so if you keep rebuilding the same, or if you rebuild the somatic trauma with new somatic experiences, you'll be able to then reprogram that neuro pathway. And as you do that, you get more and more comfortable being on stage, for instance, that kind of what you're saying with regards to leadership.Joshua Spodek 4:50  Yeah, I mean, you said building neural pathways. It's the I would just simply say learning. It's to learn to do things. It is effective. Forming neural pathways you're learning. And you have to, you have to practice these things. I mean, if you simply read about leadership, you will learn how to read about leadership. That's different than it's like learning, reading about playing piano. It teaches you how to read how to play piano, but only fingers on the keyboard to it, that's the same thing that's going to certain neural pathways.Ari Gronich 5:24  Right. So tell me about about that westpoint gig. You know, you're you're working with professors who are also Captain through colonels, you know, typically, you're working with the student population who's looking to become the next leader, and officer. And I'll tell you the truth, when I when I spent four years of my life and Air Force Junior ROTC, which, you know, doesn't sound like a lot, but it was, it was an interesting experience, because my experience of the leadership was really all about ego. If somebody had joined two weeks before me and didn't know half of what I knew their word still got accepted as fact, versus what is the truth or optimization. And so, within military, I always find that there's so much what's the word overage of, of duties, like, somebody who's knows his business is being told to do his business and then has to do it twice or three times? Right. And so that leadership doesn't really translate to, to trust in the person that you have hired. Whereas in business, we're starting to learn that you've got to like, not micromanage. And so within regards to West Point, and what you're doing with the military there, how does that micromanage versus leadership, and, and breaking the ego of leadership so that it's really more of a service position versus a I am a leader? position?Joshua Spodek 7:07  Well, just a lot there. I don't know if I can cover all of that. And you distinguish between micromanagement and leadership, that what I heard, I would make the distinction between authority and leadership. And, and so your experience in the military is much greater than mine. And by the way, I appreciate your service. And it was, it was just Memorial Day. And it's, I have a deep appreciation for the and a greater appreciation for the freedom that I have as a result of having spent time with the military, very limited time. But my understanding is that there's a chain of command. And if you're given a direct order, you gotta follow a lawful direct order. But that's the last thing you want to rely on. You can rely on authority if you have to, and what is authority, if not, the ability to hurt someone, if they don't do what you tell them to do? Well, that's almost an invitation for them to undermine that authority if they can, because I don't want you to hurt me, if I don't do what you tell me to do. But if you can find out why I, if you can find something, a motivation inside me that you can connect with the task, then I'll want to do it for my intrinsic motivation. That's what I really work on. That's not very well taught in school. And, and yet, it's not that hard to teach.Ari Gronich 8:24  watching out for the manipulation. Right. So I want to just kind of break that part of, you know, we're talking about motivation can be used for good or bad, right? So once you get a hold of their motivation, right, so how does somebody tell if somebody who's leading them is gathering their motivations for the benefit or the not benefit? So motivations that could be like, well, I want you to take this poison, because it'll be good for the country, right? Or I want you to, you know, it's like, so how do I get Okay, so I know that you're really, really patriotic, right? And so you will take that poison, because you believe fully that it's good for the country. So that would be to me like a, what could possibly be an abuse of leadership versus something that would be more positive? So how do we how do we, as a listener, as an audience member who's maybe being led or wanting to lead, how do they make sure that they do it with pure motivation? Or that they're being led from somebody who has pure motivation, versus being led through fraud or, you know, that's the word. withholding of information not being completely authentic?Joshua Spodek 9:54  Well, this so this is pretty powerful stuff and you're working with people's deep emotions and you could easily hurt someone this way. You definitely when you do this, and it takes months to develop it, or years, some people stumble on it maybe founded as a child just to happen to get a technique like it. And Eisenhower said, you know, leadership, paraphrase here is getting him to do your thing for his reason. And so if the very similar to what I'm talking about, and you will, when someone opens up with you and shares these things, you will feel a Machiavellian feeling of like, Oh, now I can get them to do things. You will also, even from a purely Machiavellian standpoint, you will recognize, if you use that once that way, that's it, you've lost that you've made an enemy of that person, they're gonna hate you. And so even if you were purely psychopathic, you would recognize I can't speak to what it's like for somebody psychopathic, but if you're, you're gonna realize you, you got one shot at ruining the relationship, this person forever, and you're not gonna want to do it. But they're also going toAri Gronich 11:07  have that set up. That's on a one to one. Let me I'm just gonna interject. So you you consult with politicians. So politicians are famous for making promises and leading people into places where they are literally where the people are literally voting against their own self interests. Right? So yes, on a one on one basis, the person may know, okay, my motivation is a little Machiavellian, I might want to turn that down so that I don't isolate this one person who I'm in relationship with. But when you're a politician, and you're ruling over 100,000 1,000,002 million, or however many, and you don't have those personal relationships, you tend to get led down a wrong line. And so as a as an audience, let's say a voter, right, who's voting for for policy, who wants to know that they're being led by somebody who is being authentic? and non Machiavellian, right? How do they recognize that?Joshua Spodek 12:10  Well, I want to recognize that we've completely switched domains. Learning to play piano is one thing, learning how to command an audience at Rock, not rocking at Lincoln Center say, it's a very different thing. showmanship on stage is very different. There's a lot of stage music, session musicians, who are technically proficient and you play music better than anyone, but they can't, you know, work a crowd, right? Likewise, is playing musicians who can they know to chords, but they can work crowd. And so it's very different sets of skills to lead one person one on one was what we were talking about, and leading a large group of people.Ari Gronich 12:46  Absolutely, thank you so much for, for coming on. You know, I am a I'm a believer that in order to create a new tomorrow, we have to challenge ourselves like a lobster in its shell, you know, got to break free from one shell before we could get to your next show. It's not comfortable, it's not easy. But if we have more conversations that explore these kinds of, you know, topics, then we'll get to a deeper truth. And that deeper truth, my hope is, will help to activate people's vision for a better world so that they can truly lead themselves and lead others. And, and we can change the world together. So I really appreciate you being on here. So thank you very much for coming.Joshua Spodek 13:35  Thank you for having me. I hope that I think I said things that I think me in the past would have benefited from different people may resonate or not, but I hope I hope for some people at least, that we things that we shared, help them further their path.Ari Gronich 13:50  Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. And this has been another episode of create a new tomorrow. I've been your host, Ari Gronich with Josh spodek. Thank you so much for coming on. And remember, we're activating your vision for a better world. So what are you going to do today, tomorrow and next week, to really live your perfect life.

Hi, I am here with Joshua Spodek, He is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, and professor at NYU.He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite (having emerged from some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods). He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations.CHECK THIS AMAZING WEBSITE BY JOSHUA SPODEK FOR MORE INFO:https://joshuaspodek.com/JOIN NOW!! AND BE PART OF MASTERMIND PROGRAMlearn how to activate yourself for a better future!https://createanewtomorrow.com/master...CHECK THIS LINK FOR A FREE GIFT FOR YOU!https://www.createanewtomorrow.com/giftDO YOU WANT TO BE OUR NEXT SPECIAL GUEST?Book an appointment now and let's create a new world together!https://booking.builderall.com/calend...CHECK THIS OTHER WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION!https://www.CreateAnewtomorrow.comhttps://www.Achievehealthusa.comCreate a fundamental change in the global community from a strictly reactive system of medicine that focuses on symptom and emergency treatment to a proactive system based on whole-being health as well as illness and injury prevention. Personally teach and influence at least one million people.We are a multifaceted Health and Wellness company that specializes in Corporate Wellness and Culture Consulting, Industry Speaking engagements and Continuing education for the industry.We Help corporations by solving the most costly problems they have with Productivity and Health Care while creating a culture that thrives on accomplishment and community.We help organizations think outside of the box and gain tools that allow them to be nimble and strong as tides and markets shift.We Up level the skills and tools of other practitioners by providing them continuing education that actually leads to greater success and standing in the business community.#Podcast #health #Education #CreateANewTomorrowSHOW LESSAri Gronich 0:00  I'm Ari, Gronich, and this is create a new tomorrow podcast.Welcome back to another episode of create a new tomorrow I am your host Ari Gronich. And I have with me Josh spodek. Now, this is a guy I taught, I had a pre interview with him, I was really excited to talk to him. He's a three time TEDx speaker, this guy has, he's a best selling author of this book initiative and leadership, step by step, the sustainable life podcast is award winning with that. Professor at NYU, you've even you know, taught leadership at West Point with the director of US Secretary of Defense, right?Joshua Spodek 0:56  Yes, he's since become the Secretary of Defense. Is that because of working with me? I can't say for sure. Well,Ari Gronich 1:01  well, we'll get into that, we'll get into that. So tell us a little bit about your background and why leadership was such an important role. And the reason I'm going to preface this for the audience, the reason I'm so excited is because I am really looking at the deep dive into leadership and what makes people leaders, what makes people followers, and so on. So I'm really excited to have Josh here.Joshua Spodek 1:25  Well, glad to be here. And I'll start with a very brief part about beforehand. If you want to know more, let me know. Because growing up, I was pretty nerdy, pretty geeky. I got a PhD in physics, I helped build a satellite that's orbiting the Earth right now. And for a while I really thought physics, I want to be a physicist. And then I ended up leaving, after got my PhD to start my first company, and was very successful. That was successful. Then came the recession. And it was difficult times, I got squeezed out by the investors, very painful experience. Could not by that point, I severed my ties with academia. So I couldn't really go back. I ended up going to business school. And that's where I found classes in leadership that I did not know existed. I thought, Martin Luther King was born that way. Mandela was born that way. Eisenhower was born that way, I couldn't really change who I was. And I learned that On the contrary, you can change, you can develop social emotional skills. Although I'll clarify that in school, I learned that you could. And there we had. The classes were case study, reading and writing papers, not actually doing the things after Business School. Yeah, I go into meeting thinking I've gotten great grades and leadership classes physical, I'm a leader, I will run this meeting. And it didn't do very well. Because I later learned how to learn through and how I teach is experientially if you want to. And so I look at what I learned in school was like, you can learn music appreciation. And that's, you know, you'll learn about the lives of Bach and Beethoven. But you'll learn how to play you got to play scales. Same with leadership, I learned leadership appreciation in school. What I teach now is and what it coaches how to lead. And it's a deep, deep passion of mine. Awesome. SoAri Gronich 3:18  we talked about this a little bit. And in my, in my witnessing of of the world, right, I feel like Kennedy was probably, at least as a president, the last great leader of our country. And the thing that I think made him a leader is not only did he bring people along with his vision, but he gave mandates he gave direction to those visions, he said, we're going to go to the moon by the end of the decade, go do that. And then all of a sudden, people started flocking to create what he kind of mandated we should do. So where do you think that that's lacking in the leadership and how does your you know your vision of leadership address those kinds of things so that we can move forward faster versus wait for another great leader to show up?Joshua Spodek 4:12  Okay, so I'm gonna take the last thing you said there, what can we what can we do ourselves instead of just waiting for the next great leaders show up? Is it learning social and emotional skills, performance skills, is different than learning things about factual recall things that you can take bubble test for write papers about? You can write papers about leadership, but the actual practice of it, you have to face you have to understand yourself, you have to learn empathy, compassion, listening, as well as confidence. And these are not things you can read your way into, or write your way into and learning them requires there are there gonna be times I guarantee everyone who tries at some point they will think this. I've been at the six months I'm worse off than I was when I started. I'm not going to get anywhere others can do this, I just can't do it, everyone will think that at some point, that's part of the process and table get through that. It's a, it's something different than what our schools have come to teach these days. Our schools, there are, there are exceptions. But generally, it's factual recall, it's abstract analysis, which is valuable. I don't want to take away from that. But it doesn't help you face fears of going in front of an audience and allow yourself to be vulnerable and sometimes failing, not just failing. But like being being ridiculed, being disrespected, and bouncing back. You can get it in other areas, and just practicing leadership, there's sports, give it to performance arts, I think leadership is a performance art.Unknown Speaker 5:54  SoAri Gronich 5:56  just to go in, in my background, right. Every time I've ever had a position of leadership, it was in a style of master apprentice, right. So I had somebody who was teaching me how to be a leader. And then as a leader, I would be teaching somebody how to be what I'm doing, right. So I always had a master apprentice kind of relationship in that way. And it was very experiential. And I just want to kind of come back to what you just said, about doing the practice of, and knowing your traumas, or knowing your history, because I've always told people that when I'm doing trauma, work with them, if you want to get on a camera, but you're afraid of what people will think of you, the only way to do that is to get on that camera with people who are safe. And so if you keep rebuilding the same, or if you rebuild the somatic trauma with new somatic experiences, you'll be able to then reprogram that neuro pathway. And as you do that, you get more and more comfortable being on stage, for instance, that kind of what you're saying, with regards to leadership.Joshua Spodek 7:14  Yeah, I mean, you say building neural pathways, it's the I would just simply say, learning, it's to learn to do things, it is effect, forming neural pathways you're learning. And you have to, you have to practice these things. I mean, if you simply read about leadership, you will learn how to read about leadership. That's different than it's like learning, reading about playing piano. It teaches you how to read how to play piano, but only fingers on the keyboard to it, that's the same thing that's going to certain neural pathways. At the beginning, when you play piano, I learned to play piano, but I think that, you know, you play some scale, the thumb is gonna hit harder than the pinky generally. So you have to learn how to modulate the, you know, hit with the same, if you want the same volume, you have to hit with the same force, which means you have to push harder with your pinky. Likewise, if you're going to lead people, and you want to make people feel comfortable sharing what motivates them, so that you motivate them intrinsically, not telling them what to do, that managers can do that. And that's effective at times. But sometimes, intrinsic motivation is going to get you much farther. And if you presume to know what the person what motivates them, you're almost certainly gonna be wrong. So how do you but for them to share that is generally makes them feel vulnerable. So they're going to protect that. So if I'm going to communicate, and behave in ways to make them feel comfortable sharing that, that takes that kind of nuance, that kind of subtlety, that kind of being able to pick up facial expression, I movement, tone of voice, both seeing there's as well asAri Gronich 8:58  doing your own got modulating your own. So how do you do that? Do you use mirror work to modulate your own or do you like, what what is your process for creating that level of leadership in yourself and awareness?Joshua Spodek 9:14  I'll give a very low level and not a somewhat low level incident and give a high level answer. When I okay, after school, I picked up there was this difference between learning about something learning something. And at this at the time I was watching inside the actress to do a bunch I don't know if people have seen it, but I love it. It's now it's no longer James Lipton. He's is some other hosts now. But he'd bring on all the best guests. Pacino De Niro, Streep, you know people like that. And I kept noticing that they had the skills that I was supposed to have learned in Business School. Over and over again. They kept saying they dropped out of school, they got kicked out of school, they never went to school in the first place. Like that's weird because I went to an Ivy League business school and my professors weren't Nowhere near able to practice the emotional and social skills that these people could and yet they didn't go to school at all. And then the more I studied or learn about them, because my curiosity is now like, what's going on? How's it? How's this possible, it shouldn't be this way. It's not that they they stopped going, that what they're talking about was like mainstream course course in high school, they would still get education. And so then I learned about like, the group theater and Stanislavski and this whole history of theater. And there's a style of learning there. I ended up taking Meisner technique classes. So Meisner was one of the big teachers of the of the movement. And the technique was, it starts off these very simple exercises, that when you do them, they're so simple. It's almost like, what's the point. But then the next exercise is a little bit more than that. And the next section has a little bit more than that. And before you know it, you're doing these amazing, I was doing these amazing things, I was crying on stage, on purpose to using the technique, which I never would have expected I could do. And so if you look at the way I teach, now, it's Meisner technique. But instead of By the way, they're doing construction next door, I hope that it's not too loud,Ari Gronich 11:13  I can hear it a little bit, but we could try to get in and post.Joshua Spodek 11:18  So the hopefully not too distracting, I feel like now we're all used to like, we used to be in Sound Studios, and now it's just our living rooms,Unknown Speaker 11:26  I know. And,Joshua Spodek 11:28  alright, so I take out the stuff that's specific to acting, and I bring in stuff that's specific to most of my clients or business leadership. But some politicians, people like that, too. There's lots of areas that you can do leadership and sports and education, so forth. So I put in exercises that are relevant to that style of leadership. So it begins with very simple basics. And then you move up. So now I'm going to go from management technique. But this is how you learn sports. To play musical instrument to perform dance singing, the military, you begin with very simple basics. And when you get a certain level of proficiency with the basics, you move up to intermediate. And when you move up from there, you get to mastery, and there's no limit to how well you can act or how well you can play tennis. So there's no place to stop, you can always get better. And as you gain fluency in it, you you communicate more you learn more about yourself. It's a wonderful experience. And it's just as far as I can tell people didn't do it with leadership. I did. And then you know, that's why I end up at West Point in places like that.Ari Gronich 12:41  Right. So tell me about about that westpoint gig. You know, you're you're working with professors who are also Captain through colonels, you know, typically, you're working with the student population who's looking to become the next leader and officer. And I'll tell you the truth when I when I spent four years of my life and Air Force Junior ROTC, which, you know, doesn't sound like a lot. But it was it was an interesting experience, because my experience of the leadership was really all about ego. If somebody had joined two weeks before me and didn't know half of what I knew their words still got accepted as fact, versus what's the truth or optimization. And so, within military, I always find that there's so much what's the word overage of, of duties, like, somebody who's knows his business is being told to do his business and then has to do it twice or three times? Right? And so that leadership doesn't really translate to, to trust in the person that you have hired. Whereas in business, we're starting to learn that you've got to like not micromanage. And so within regards to West Point, and what you're doing with the military there, how does that micromanage versus leadership, and, and breaking the ego of leadership so that it's really more of a service position versus I am a leader? position?Joshua Spodek 14:23  Well, just a lot there. I don't know if I can cover all of that. And you distinguish between micromanagement and leadership that what I heard, I would make the distinction between authority and leadership. And, and so your experience in the military is much greater than mine. And by the way, I appreciate your service. And it was it was just Memorial Day, and it's, I have a deep appreciation for the and a greater appreciation for the freedom that I have as a result of having spent time with the military. Very limited time. But my understanding is that there's a chain of command If you're given a directory, you got to follow a lawful direct order. But that's the last thing you want to rely on. You can rely on authority, if you have to what is authority, if not, the ability to hurt someone, if they don't do what you tell them to do? Well, that's almost an invitation for them to undermine that authority that can because I don't want you to hurt me, if I don't do what you tell me to do. But if you can find out why I, if you can find something, a motivation inside me that you can connect with a task, then I'll want to do it for my intrinsic motivation. That's what I really work on. That's not very well taught in school. And, and yet, it's not that hard to teach.Ari Gronich 15:41  Okay, so I want you to give me an example, I'm going to use me as an example, because you know, it's my show, I get to do that. But I have a seven year old, I'm a dad. And there are times in which I want to be an authority, or authoritarian with him. And I was like, you need to do this, you need to do this. That's it. No, no questions. And then there's this other side of me that's going what I'm doing sometimes isn't working as well as I'd like it to. And I'd much rather have a pleasant peaceful life with my son, and then one that's adversarial. So I'm trying to learn how to be a leader as a father, and do what you say is motivate his intrinsic motivation. So give me a kind of like, how would How would you go about doing that? Like, what what's the the pieces? What are the questions I would ask myself? Well,Joshua Spodek 16:32  I'm going to translate this to piano. You asked, like, how do I play this piece. And I'm really taught how to play this, you have to practice the basics. And if you're starting from you're not sewing for, I don't know where it's coming from. But if you start from never having played piano before, you got to start with the scales. I can tell you play when when when it says this note, hit that key when it says that note hit that key. But that's not really that's not musical expression. That's just mechanical doing things. So if someone wants to learn how to improve their relationships with others, you got to practice the basics in what you're talking about there. If I want to motivate someone through their intrinsic motivations, I have to find out what those motivations are. Which means I have to listen to them, I have to observe what motivates them. And generally, what I'm going to do is, I'll ask them, What motivates you. Not quite like that? asked what some?Ari Gronich 17:28  What are the things you like?Joshua Spodek 17:29  Yeah, what are some things that you like? And they're generally going to protect themselves? They're like, I presume your son? How old? Is he? Seven, seven. So he's not at the stage where he's just gonna say the opposite, just because, you know, but he might not be aware of it himself. He might not really know like, maybe he likes to play video games. But is it because it's fun, because it's distracting or whatever? So after asking, I'm going to presume that the answer that people give at different ages for different reasons is not the full answer. It's but in general, it's going to be a mix of the answer plus a few layers on top of protecting themselves of what they think you want. They think you want to hear what they think is the right answer. So then want to ask a series of confirming, clarifying questions, not not putting myself so if I say, you know, I'm gonna ask you what, what's, what's your passion behind leadership? What is leadership matters so much to you? You'll probably give me an answer. Whatever your answer, whatever your answer is, if I repeat it back to you, even if I get a word for word, exactly what you said, Your words can't match what's in your heart and in your mind, so I'm not going to get it quite right. Even if I say exactly what you said. So you're probably gonna say no, that's not quite right. If I asked you, what, can you correct me, and then I keep confirming, clarifying until you go. Yes, that's it. That's exactly it. Now I know what motivates you. Now I have something now I have the intrinsic thing inside you, one of many of you know, an infinite number of things that motivate you. It could be experiences, it could be hopes, dreams, but it's gonna be something that I identify as. If it's, if it's something very particular to you, it's probably not, it's probably something more deep down, that I can empathize with, when I get something like that, then I can if I can connect that to the task, then I will inspire the person. But how to do all that. I mean, I just jumped like, this week's worth of of the course, into one quick thing, because it takes a while to learn how to ask the question effectively, how to listen how to confirm and clarify.Ari Gronich 19:42  Yeah, but you have you have that outline that you've been able to very clearly Express so I'm answering as a as a as an educator, ya know, it's ask questions. Learn about the person that that you're trying to motivate. So, know and then assess and reassess. clarify, those are all great tips for for the audience. So no,Joshua Spodek 20:06  I appreciate, I would say not so much. Sorry to interrupt but not so much tips as signposts to go along the way the tips would be like practice the basics. I would tips would be like what to do specifically to develop the skills. Right. SoAri Gronich 20:20  okay, so questioning skills. So let's, let's go to that one first, what what are some tips on how to develop questioning skills? In in this area of finding out what exactly it's so I'll just give you so there's a difference between asking questions to gather a solution or just solve a problem. And there's ways to ask questions to interrogate and basically get somebody to admit what you already think that they want to know what you, you know, think that they want to tell you. So there's two different ways to ask questions in my world. In your world, how do you ask questions that lead to the results that you want to get?Joshua Spodek 20:59  Well, in this area, I would say start with the expect expectation that they have a passion is different than what you expect, when I say passion, I mean, strong motivation, not necessarily related to like physical passions, just a strong motivation, take for granted that they do. And it's probably not what you expect, it will be a mix of what you expect plus other things. So when you get an answer, so you're going to get something about them that you couldn't possibly know except that they will tell you. And when they tell you, it's gonna be a mix of what is in there, plus some protection plus these other things. So but they want, it's one of the great feelings in life, is to share what you care about most, to someone who supports you for it. So your questions when you confirm and clarify. Here's a way to get them to shut up or to clam up is to judge them. And even positive judgment, people like Oh, if I said it was good, well, I know when someone judges me one way, if I let them do that, all they want that at some point is going to go the other way. So I generally don't say, Oh, I try to avoid good, bad, right and wrong, better, worse, improve words that have been judged to have judgment built in. And then, so if someone says, you know, if I say, Why do you seem to really like doing x? what's the what's the motivation behind it? And this is something I don't say, Oh, that's a good reason. And I definitely don't say that's a bad reason. I say, I might comment on how I feel that like, Oh, that's interesting, but not in a judgmental way. Not in a good, bad, right, wrong way. Um, and I try not to, I try to avoid injecting myself like, if they say I do it, because of this, I say, Oh, really, I do it because of that. Then they kind of pick up Oh, he wasn't, he doesn't care about me. He just he was looking for an excuse to talk about himself. Which I'm I, which I often do. And that doesn't, that that's more for me, not for them, and therefore it's not conducive for leading for leadership. That's more entertainment for myself.Ari Gronich 23:08  Okay, so again, I you know, I think I want to just clarify, the questioning is meant to lead to a motivation, not an interrogation of judgment, like you're not putting a judgment on the person of whether their answers right or wrong, good or bad, up or down and indifferent. It's just trying to gather information, very flat.Joshua Spodek 23:33  Yeah. Build information and develop a relationship of rapport with a person of support, supportive, non judgmental, curiosity. So that they, they, when I repeat back to them, and when I really get it, a motivation, they say, Yeah, that's it. That feeling is a very, the feeling of feeling understood. For something important. is a it's a, how to describe it's a it's a feeling that's as powerful as love, I would say, to feel understood by someone euphoric. Yeah. And it makes me it makes me want to open up more with person when someone does that with me. I mean, the fact that you just clarified with me, this just are talking about I don't know if listeners could pick up on this, but I was like, Oh, yeah, I do want to clarify, like, I want to make sure he gets this and when you get it, I feel like oh man, now that I've told you that. And if I get support on that, I feel motivated to tell you more things about myself. From a leadership perspective, if you have people telling you more and more things about themselves that they care about. That's more and more things that you can leave them with. And this is not leading them like telling them what to do. It's helping them act on what they really care about. SoAri Gronich 24:53  watching out for the manipulation, right, so I want to just kind of break Part of you know, we're talking about motivation can be used for good or bad, right? So once you get a hold of their motivation, right, so how does somebody tell if somebody who's leading them is gathering their motivations for the benefit or the not benefit? So, motivations that could be like, well, I want you to take this poison, because it'll be good for the country, right? Or I want you to, you know, it's like, so how do I get Okay, so I know that you're really, really patriotic, right? And so you will take that poison, because you believe fully that it's good for the country. So that would be to me like a, what could possibly be an abuse of leadership versus something that would be more positive? So how do we how do we, as a listener, as an audience member who's maybe being led or wanting to lead? How do they make sure that they do it with pure motivation, or that they're being led from somebody who has pure motivation, versus being led through fraud or, you know, that's the word withholding of information not being completely authentic?Joshua Spodek 26:22  Well, this, so this is pretty powerful stuff, and you're working with people's deep emotions, and you could easily hurt someone this way. You definitely when you do this, and it takes months to develop it. or years, some people stumble on it, maybe founded as a child just to happen to get a technique like it. And Eisenhower said, you know, leadership, paraphrase here, is getting him to do your thing for his reason. And so if the very similar to what I'm talking about, and you will, when someone opens up with you, and shares these things, you will feel a Machiavellian feeling of like, Oh, now I can get them to do things. You will also, even from a purely Machiavellian standpoint, you will recognize, if you use that once that way, that's it, you've lost that you've made an enemy of that person, they're gonna hate you. And so even if you were purely psychopathic, you'd recognize I can't speak to what it's like for somebody who's psychopathic. But if you're, you're gonna realize you, you got one shot at ruining the relationship, this person forever, and you're not gonna want to do it. But they're also going toAri Gronich 27:35  have that set up. That's on a one to one. Let me I'm just gonna interject. So you you consult with politicians. So politicians are famous for making promises and leading people into places where they are literally where the people are literally voting against their own self interests. Right? So yes, on a one on one basis, the person may know, okay, my motivation is a little Machiavellian, I might want to turn that down so that I don't isolate this one person who I'm in relationship with. But when you're a politician, and you're ruling over 100,000 1,000,002 million, or however many, and you don't have those personal relationships, you tend to get led down a wrong line. And so as a as an audience, let's say a voter, right, who's voting for policy, who wants to know that they're being led by somebody who is being authentic and non Machiavellian, right? How do they recognize that?Joshua Spodek 28:39  Well, I want to recognize that we've completely switched domains. Learning to play piano is one thing, learning how to command an audience at Rock, not rocking at Lincoln Center say, it's a very different thing. showmanship on stage is very different. There's a lot of stage music, session musicians, who are technically proficient and you play music better than anyone, but they can't, you know, work a crowd, right? Likewise, is playing musicians who can they know to chords, but they can work crowd. And so it's very different sets of skills to lead one person one on one, which is what we were talking about, and leading a large group of people. So leaving that large group of people. That's a whole other story. I mean,Ari Gronich 29:21  as you know, leadership is like you are on stage at a TEDx. You're leading an audience of people, it's not a one on one conversation, right? So a lot of what we do in life these days, is designed to not be one on one to lead groups and, you know, we're looking at this new society, so to speak, and going okay, how do I how do I find my place of leadership here? And so I think we are starting to need to focus on those large groups as well. And yeah, I get your point that one, you got to learn one before you learn three before Learn 20.Joshua Spodek 30:02  Yeah, there was a lot of questions there, how do we protect ourselves against somebody manipulating us through getting the whole crowd to do something, and then you're getting swept up with the crowd. And then realizing later why I didn't mean to do that at all. I mean, there's a lot of personal leadership, to protect yourself against these things to know what your values are to know, to identify these techniques ahead of time, to leadership, IAri Gronich 30:27  just want to purse that's what I was hoping you would go to as the personal leadership.Joshua Spodek 30:32  Yeah. And also, what is your circle of friends who hiring is a major piece of leadership. If you hire people who are misaligned with the mission of your company, or your team or your friendship, it's not gonna work out, even if they're, they're great at what they do, but they don't really value what your mission is. So whom you hang out with, how you reflect and other times and being aware of what your values are, and acting on those things. Everybody has. Everybody values, family, everybody values, health, everybody values. civic duty, in some sense. The question is not do you value these things? The question is, when one is pitted against the other, which do you choose? That's much more challenging. If you value your fitness, but you also value saving money. Someone sometimes they're at odds. So which one do you pick, if you don't face these challenges yourself, these these choices, you don't really know your values. You can read about Plato's values, and Aristotle's and compare and contrast with Maya Angelou all you want. But you don't know your values until you face these things. So as you said earlier, on a small scale, you got to do these things when the when it's not like life or death. Then when you're in situations where it's like a major thing, what do I do? I mean, an example I use a lot is Muhammad Ali, when he won the Olympic gold medal, he became heavyweight champion of the world. He opposed the Vietnam War. And they drafted him. And he, they said, Are you gonna cross this line and he refused to cross the line, he said, I'm a conscientious objector lots of lots more depth than this. He didn't make that choice at that line. He reflected on that a lot before. And before now, we look back at Vietnam as a controversial affair. At that time, even Jackie Robinson said, Ali go, you know, they're not going to make him fight. He's not going to put his health at risk. And this was the army that had, you know, beaten Hitler. It didn't have a Vietnam in his background. So he had faced these things on his own before on a world stage to ask them. Another story I talked about a lot on Dave Chappelle. I don't know if you know this. A lot of people know that he was on offered $50 million contracts when Dave Chappelle when the Chappelle show is doing really well. And he walked away. So actually, on inside the Actor's Studio, he was being interviewed by James Lipton. And he tells a story about when he was graduating high school. His father says, so what are you gonna do? And he went to a performance arts high school. And his answer was like this really cocky, I want to be a great comedian. And comedy is not like an easy path to success. So his father says, Well, if you're, if you feel that way about if you're so confident, I think you should do it. But things can get crazy in Hollywood, you don't know. Name, your price now, figure out what's beyond what you're willing to do now when you're calm. And then, okay, so now he's talking to James Lipton, he turns to the audience who all know about his later history, he goes, hence,Unknown Speaker 33:55  Africa.Joshua Spodek 33:56  Meaning after his father gave him that advice, he reflected and thought, and spent his time and faces, you know, what's what's right for me? What's wrong for me? And when it got to create who knows what they weren't, like, Here's $50 million, have a great time. They're saying, Who knows what was attached to that? Who knows what kind of craziness goes on in Hollywood, right? And his name is price. And at both cases, Ali and Chappelle disappeared for a while Ali almost went bankrupt at the prime of his career, came back and became heavyweight champion the world again. And I think that's what helped him become not just the greatest boxer. I think many call them the greatest of all time of like everything, but certainly a major figure of the 20th century, Chappelle. I mean, his specials now are bigger than the Chappelle show was I think, well, it's special. It's something special. But you know, you got named the the Mark Twain award from the Kennedy Center he gotAri Gronich 34:54  as a beautiful ceremony. Yeah.Joshua Spodek 34:56  And again, he was talking about I will fight for your freedom to speak Your mind because I believe in this art. So these are examples of preparation that most of us will not face on the scale that they did with the world looking on with 10s of millions of dollars at stake. But it's the same technique that gets us that reflection, and what what is your price at a time preparation?Ari Gronich 35:20  asking those questions is,Unknown Speaker 35:22  to me,Ari Gronich 35:23  you know, like one of the best things you could do before you do anything. And I find that it's, it's a very difficult thing to get others to ask their own questions. It's like they can reflect if I'm asking them the question. It's hard to get people to come up with and then reflect on their own questions. Do you have any specific questions that you suggest people ask themselves?Joshua Spodek 35:53  More than the questions is really, you have to face the challenge yourself? You have to? It's not just which like, which do I value more between saving money or fitness? make that choice, you know, do go for the, I'm trying to think of like a situation where money and fitness go against each other?Ari Gronich 36:13  Or do you and afford what Tim can't afford? The equipment can't afford the proper food? You know, I mean, there's the crazy thing is that all the reasons why people do that. And,Joshua Spodek 36:24  you know, I'm smiling, because all the things you're talking about of like going, I don't like paying for gyms. And so I have my kettlebells over there, and all those bodyweight exercises. And you can just see the tip of my rowing machine over there. And so I have all this, I figured out how to exercise at like, a fraction of the cost of what other people what people pay, I paid 10 years of people pay per month that catwalks and can you tell how proud I am of that. Actually, that's and then with the food, I find out how to get I build relationships with the farmers at the farmers market. So I get vegetables much cheaper than everyone else does. Because they liked me because I talked to them. And, and I buy in season, so it's all and so I spend less money than most do, even though I get the highest quality. You know, right farm fresh vegetables. So that's why I had trouble picking that example. Because I found out how to be fit and save money, and how to eat healthy and save money. and delicious.Ari Gronich 37:21  A lot of people a lot of people don't really know that that's a, you know, possible, but I, you know, obviously 27 years I've been doing this and most of the ways that a person can get healthy costs a lot less than being sick. It's just a fact. And, you know, but as a leaders like questions, so like I'm writing a course right now on questioning, it's just all kinds of questions and ways to ask yourself things that will lead you towards wherever you want to go. So you personally lead yourself, I'm kind of like guiding the leading of themselves in that stuff. But the questioning the kinds of questions like, you could ask a question like, Why me? Or you can ask a question like, how much better could it get, you know, like, very different kinds of questions and how they lead your brain to an answer. So,Joshua Spodek 38:16  when you when you say questions like that, then my, my advices there is, is make those a dialogue with multiple people. I meditate regularly. And that's very useful. And there's something that happens when you talk to someone else. So to supportive, non judgmental, but still challenging. That definitely a think of those questions solo, meditate on them. Think about them, when you're lying in bed at night, or waking up in the morning and you have you know, nothing's getting in your way. Also, talk to your best friends about it, talk to your boss about it, talk to co workers, talk to your mom and dad, talk to your kids talk to me,Ari Gronich 38:55  what are they talking to them about? Because I'll tell you the truth, what it what it feels like, in my head, as you're saying that is find out your your life on by committee, you know, what your, your what's important to you by committee? What's uh, you know, it's like, I'm asking myself about, what is it as important to me as a leader? Or how do i do you know, so it's like, I wouldn't want to do that by committee, so to speak, I might want to ask them afterwards. What's your opinion on this as well, but after I'd already gotten to my real truth, my personal truth?Joshua Spodek 39:33  Well, I don't think you're going to get two final answers on these things. I mean, you'll get an answer that's right for you at that time. And I think that'll change as you age as things change. Of course, when you sit by committee that imply that feels to me, like you're trying to find a consensus or, but what I'm saying I'm suggesting is have people challenge you. So if I say, you know, I forget the questions you just asked, but like, what, like, what do I want out of a career That's an interesting question to ponder. And if I talk to some people about it and say, you know, push me on this challenge me, it's not to not for them to annoy me not for that, but for them to think of like, what might? What? from their experience that I have not had, but they had? Will they see that? I haven't. Um, you know, john Stuart Mill talked about if your idea hasn't been challenged, you don't really know you may be right, but you don't know it. You may you may be, there may be something more, something better for you that you haven't hit on yet. That when challenged to support why you'll hit on? That's what I'm going for is it's not a committee so much as a devil's advocates, or people to provoke greater reflection.Ari Gronich 40:50  Okay, I can see that. I just think that that should be done after the personal authentic reflection, and then, and then somebody can like, okay, now, what do you think of this? And maybe you have growth for me from where I'm at? But I would do the personal question first, personally, but, but I do understand how getting input from multiple places is going to increase your awareness of yourself.Joshua Spodek 41:21  I certainly didn't mean it as a solo as the only thing to do, as augment.Ari Gronich 41:27  Yeah, no, absolutely. Like said, I'm just reflecting, I'm trying to make sure that I'm clear, the audience is clear that, you know, that the information is, is disseminate in a way that everybody kind of is on the same level of what they hear. So when I, when I heard you, I heard, get people to challenge you, in what you're wanting to do. And I hate first thing is first, I just want to, you know, for me, at least, like I asked myself questions, and then I go, Okay, so this is what I want to do. Do you think that this is a good, you know, road, bad road? What are your experiences on this road, and getting other people's input? of that? So I'm, I'm wanting like, to be very specific, so the audience can be clear on what you're saying. I hope that makes it more helpful for them. If that makes sense, what I just said, yeah. Yeah. I mean, as you were saying it for me, I think I think of I do reflect personally, and come to some results. And then but I, I personally don't think what more is there after this? What have I not thought of? And so I don't think of it as that my solo answers. I don't think it was like the right ones are the best ones. They're not final. It's a step on the way. Nothing is final death. Yes. IJoshua Spodek 42:58  was just gonna say it's just a min until death. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. SoAri Gronich 43:04  yeah. so fascinating things about you. I just want to break up the tension a little bit. You spent time in Manhattan off the grid.Joshua Spodek 43:17  So I'm not quite off the grid. I intend to get off the grid. I'm working very hard at it. And so I have over there my battery, but I haven't even gotten the solar panels to attach to it that I think I can I think I can pull it up the next 12Ari Gronich 43:29  to 24 months. Yeah, I am. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So that plan is in is in motion. It's in motion. So where are you now with it? And why did you decide to do it? I mean, I remember talking to you about the minimalist in this simple life, right, and how happy you are. And people are really looking to get happy these days. So, you know, tell me why you chose this as a way to simplify your your happiness.Joshua Spodek 43:56  It's been a long process, when I was a kid, I would never have thought of like, less, you know, I definitely thought you know, whoever dies with the most toys wins. And I had a friend whose parents were richer, and I was always trying to catch up with all the stuff he was always getting computers and cameras and stuff and and then, you know, one of the early stages is wall behind me that has a blackboard used to be all books. And getting rid of the books was really hard. It took several iterations and probably a year of first getting rid of the really books I knew I'd never read again, and then getting rid of ones that are a little more interesting, but not really that interesting. And then eventually getting rid of like the big books that I really cared about, but knowing I, I didn't eat them. And that's a whole process that people can go through on their own then. And there are various different things that I do over time that I've come to associate getting rid of unnecessary things as bring as creating freedom. Yeah, getting rid of like my marathon medals. I got rid of those. I was like, oh, as soon as I got rid of I was like that was a mistake. Like that was they're irreplaceable. But then later, after a couple years of regretting it now You know what? I'm glad that I get rid of them because I ran. I mean, I came in like 10,000 plates. It's like, no one knows who came in second Timothy two. What's his name? The guy one knows it comes in second for if it came behind Michael Phelps, right, right. I came in 10,000 place second. Like it's pretty far from second. So what's so big about these things. And then after that I ran a couple more marathons. And so I had these other these other medals I was like, now I know not to get them in the first place. It's hard to get rid of something once you've acquired it and start getting those connections to it or attachments to it. But I put on Craigslist, free put up on free for on Craigslist. And some guy can't pick them up. He wanted some other stuff that I was offering free at the same time. I said, Oh, I'd love to metal. I was like, what do you what the metals for anyway. And it's like, oh, his girlfriend was training for her first half marathon. And he wanted to give it to her as like a show of appreciation for that and motivation to go for the full marathon. So I'm so happy that this is getting used for something more. So cool. That's cool. ThenAri Gronich 46:08  I just released like, I think 1500 conference IDs. You know, the little things you have and your IDs with your name on them for constant conference you've ever been to? Yeah, I think I just cost about 1500. How did it feel? felt great. Yeah. Before you did it were like all what if I regret it? Oh, no, I saved them. For years, I was planning on putting them in a in a like, Curio thing I wanted to display like, look at all this stuff that I did, right to grow and learn and like, proud of them. And I spoke here and I spoke there. And then I just was like, now it's time. Just gotta go. And it feltJoshua Spodek 46:54  so good. So these experiences, I mean, there's all sorts of experiences like that. And the more I've done it, the more or there's definitely things I reflect on, I'm like, No, keep this one. And recently that happened, I was like I there's something I was going through. I was like, I gotta go through this once for the last time and get rid of it. I'm going through I was like, oh, at least one more time after this. And okay, so about a year and a half ago, I was reading an article about how other cultures, they refrigerate less than they, Vietnam in particular, they ferment a lot. And they don't refrigerate so much. And you know, I'm sustainability is a very important thing for me. And you know, there's a big challenge with wind and solar are intermittent. So sometimes they can't provide power. So one way to address that is to become more resilient. So I was curious, as individuals as a society, we don't really value resilience so much we talk about it, but we don't value it too much. So I wondered if I could, what if I had to go without power? What if I, so I unplugged my fridge for a while. And I ended up making three months that time. And I had no idea. I could do it. And but then from meditation I was it stopped being about what I was giving up. And it became what I was adopting. And that was last winter. This winter, I went did it. And actually now I think today, tomorrow marks six and a half months that my fridge has been unplugged. And I would have thought was crazy. But I keep learning more about how people used to mean refrigerators been around what 100 years, humans have been around for what 300,000. And I'm eating better. It's really, I'm very surprised at this. And when I realized that when I got an electric bill $1.70 I got to $4.70 the last one's $1.40 I'll see what the next one is. I was like I want if I can go off grid, it was really just stumbling into following my nose to in the direction of acting on my values of stewardship to see where it would lead. I didn't I didn't think like let's go off grid. But now that it not I'm within striking distance of it. I'm like, let's see if I can do it.Ari Gronich 49:14  I like how you said acting on my values. How often do you see people who do not act on their values? And the question that I would have for you is what are the tricks or the things that have made you strong enough to act on your values? While most people would talk about sustainability? I'll give you al gore as an example. He's flying around on private jets, his house takes up more electricity than like seven other residential properties, right? Not that now at least that was like 20 years ago, but that you get the idea right? Some people act on their value. Some people just talk about them. So how do you get to a place where acting on them is your default.Joshua Spodek 50:02  Well, this is the eternal challenge of life. I mean, acting on your values, values, what's evaluate good, bad, what? To actually evaluate means to do what you think is good. And maybe different than other people's values, but your values, but and that's in conflict with with what's easier often, or what everyone else is doing. So the more that you act by your values, the more than let me speak personally, theAri Gronich 50:24  more that I act on my values, the more that I improve my life, improve, make more good. And one of the things that you told me you did is you stopped flying.Joshua Spodek 50:34  Yeah, although that came after. Right morning packaged food. Right.Ari Gronich 50:38  And you said that that helped your life, which most people will find interesting, because your travel for a living? SoJoshua Spodek 50:48  yeah, that Well, I didn't originally choose to stop flying totally. I originally chose to go without flying for a year. expecting it to be a horrible year. I at that time, I felt like I'm taking one for the team. But I gotta find out. This doesn't sound sustainable. All this flying? Could I get by without it? I was surprised after two, three months of it. That, again, it wasn't what I was getting rid of it what I replaced it with, which is much more community connection, spending more time with family having more control over my career, I would have thought it'd be the opposite. I think I'd spend less time and family have less control of my career. And when I didn't have the option of flying, I was able to create more of those things, not less. Sort of construction. I was not too loud. It's all right. This should be the unidirectional. So it's all right.Ari Gronich 51:45  No problem. So what are,Unknown Speaker 51:50  you know?Joshua Spodek 51:52  Oh, I'm sorry. And again, it's practicing the basics. It's really starting with the simpler things. If I had not challenged myself to go without packaged food for a week, there's no way I would have gone for not flying. And the packaged food I also thought was gonna be you know, I live in Manhattan. It's like great food everywhere. And am I going to say no to the best chefs in the world, or you know, some of them. And again, that that pattern that I described with the flat with the not flying happened with the food too. It's not that I I don't feel like I'm missing out on restaurants now. Because when I go to the farmers market, it's just this cornucopia of like right now over here I got the strawberries are the season in New York, I haven't had strawberries in 10 months because they weren't in season. But my joy of strawberries is greater now than it was before. Now that experience with the strawberries with farmers markets instead of restaurants. That experience on a small scale, gave me the gumption to try it on a bigger scale with the flying. But even the avoiding packaged food on that scale that came from other things before that. So I didn't practice in the basics, play my scales. Got it. SoAri Gronich 53:10  deprivation leads to happiness.Joshua Spodek 53:17  I wouldn't say that it's a if I had to pick anything, it would be more like Jocko willing, he said some discipline equals freedom. So it looked like deprivation. But it was living, my value was stewardship. My value was leaving the earth better than I found that my value was not polluting other people's air that they breathed. That was the value. From that value flying doesn't fit. It doesn't work. Now that benefits the flying benefited me. So now I would say it felt in retrospect, it felt it looks selfish to me what I was doing, but I want to see the Eiffel Tower, I want to say Machu Picchu. Okay, some people. Now I would say people have been displaced from their homes to drill for the oil. 9 million people died in 2019 from breathing air from breathing that air didn't know that came out the back of you know vehicles. And I'm grossly simplifying here. Right. So the question was, could I live by value of stewardship to other service to others, even when I felt like but I'm gonna miss out on the Eiffel Tower. And this is the answer to your question you asked before is how do you do what you think is right, even when it's easier not to is you practice new practice in practice? That's what I've done. And it's worked out for me so far. I believe that I'm happier now than I've ever been. I believe that I'm more effective than I've ever been. And I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.Ari Gronich 54:51  That's awesome. I i've been simplifying my brain a little bit with having a son and As I, as I'm listening to you again, you know, so glad to talk to you because I definitely create a structure. And I've told my son, you know, like, the more structure you have, the more freedom you have. And the more discipline the more you're able to, you know, discipline yourself and focus, the more time you'll have. So I try to give him the consequence, good or bad to the action, you know, as my way of being in leadership to him. But it does sound like like, the idea is to really challenge yourself to live the value that you speak. And this human condition is full of contradiction. And what do we do with the contradiction other than play with it and practice, like you say, you know, you got to practice focusing, if you want to be able to focus, it's not something that you're born with, you got to practice it. You got to practice learning to play piano, right? Got to practice leadership skills. So where are ways that people can can? Like, I know you have a training program that you use for leadership. So tell us a little bit about that. I don't normally do promotion, but I just felt called to ask you.Joshua Spodek 56:29  Okay, well, I also want to comment that there are plenty of things I've tried, that didn't work out. Yoga comes to mind, I did it for a couple years, I really loved working with my instructor. But ultimately, it's just, that was not it didn't hit for me. And there are plenty of other things that I try. I was like, you know, that's not right. So it's not like this is like a non stop path is lots of wrong term, not wrong terms, but you know, explore explorations that don't pan out. So and there's also a video that comes to mind, I call this the most boring video online, if you if you search for it's like LeBron James practicing for an hour as him with the trainer. And he is just practicing, like, he dribbles a bit. He does, like a whole bunch of free throws a whole bunch of whatever different stretches and things. There's, I don't think they even I don't think they even talk. So it's really boring. But you've seen him play. I mean, he does spin moves and crazy stuff on the court that like you can't imagine he doesn't actually practice those. He practices the basics. And that's how you get those things. It's an you know, when I dance, I took dance lessons for a while. I like it, I'm glad it did. I'm not gonna become a dancer. But I remember Oh, salsa, and I kept asking, like, what about the spin moves all these spin boots, I wanted to spin moves, and the instructor kept saying it's the feet, you got to get the feet, right. It's the rhythm. So my rhythm was terrible. And, and eventually, I was like, Oh, it's in the feet. And it's really, the more you do these things, the more you get back to these very basic things. And a lot of what I do is really giving people very basic skills. And the more you practice them, the more that the the what the shine is the thrills that not the thrills the fancy stuff comes if you practice the basics, if you don't practice the basics. It's pretty tough. And some of the basics are a lot of like, my book has four units, understand yourself, lead yourself, understand others, lead others. And it's a progression. And each set of exercises is different. Like understand yourself is more reflective, introspective, lead yourself is more getting advice from people, disciplining, applying discipline so that you can put these things into practice. lead others is much more about what we're talking about earlier, is making them feel comfortable sharing what motivates them so that you can connect that to the tasks so that they act on intrinsic motivation. And, you know, for the different types of each skill has different types of exercises to help build those things. And if that's too glib of an answer, or too high level,Ari Gronich 59:17  yeah, no, not at all. No, it's, it's a perfect answer. So how can people get ahold of you if they'd like to? chat with you?Joshua Spodek 59:25  So JoshuaSpodek.com everything's there. In the upper right corner is the links to the books and the TEDx talks and to contact me. I mean, I'm on I'm on social media, but it's, it's much more of the blog and the podcast is where I put most of my stuff out. Absolutely.Ari Gronich 59:41  Thank you so much for for coming on. You know, I am a I'm a believer that in order to create a new tomorrow, we have to challenge ourselves like a lobster in its shell. You know, you got to break free from one shell before you can get to your next shell. It's not comfortable, it's not easy. But if we have more conversations that explore these kinds of, you know, topics, then we'll get to a deeper truth. And that deeper truth, my hope is, will help to activate people's vision for a better world so that they can truly lead themselves and lead others. And, and we can change the world together. So I really appreciate you being on here. So thank you very much for coming.Joshua Spodek 1:00:29  Thank you for having me. I hope that I think I said things that I think me in the past would have benefited from different people may resonate or not, but I hope I hope for some people at least, that we things that we shared, help them further their path.Ari Gronich 1:00:44  Absolutely. Thank you so much. And this has been another episode of create a new tomorrow, I've been your host Ari Gronich with Josh spodek. Thank you so much for coming on. And remember, we're activating your vision for a better world. So what are you going to do today, tomorrow and next week, to really live your perfect life. Thank you for listening to this podcast. I appreciate all you do to create a new tomorrow for yourself and those around you. If you'd like to take this information further and are interested in joining a community of like minded people who are all passionate about activating their vision for a better world. Go to the website, create a new tomorrow.com and find out how you can be part of making a bigger difference. I have a gift for you just for checking it out and look forward to seeing you take the leap and joining our private paid mastermind community. Until then, see you on the next episode.

Hi, I am here with Joshua Spodek, He is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, and professor at NYU.He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite (having emerged from some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods). He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations.CHECK THIS AMAZING WEBSITE BY JOSHUA SPODEK FOR MORE INFO:https://joshuaspodek.com/JOIN NOW!! AND BE PART OF MASTERMIND PROGRAMlearn how to activate yourself for a better future!https://createanewtomorrow.com/master...CHECK THIS LINK FOR A FREE GIFT FOR YOU!https://www.createanewtomorrow.com/giftDO YOU WANT TO BE OUR NEXT SPECIAL GUEST?Book an appointment now and let's create a new world together!https://booking.builderall.com/calend...CHECK THIS OTHER WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION!https://www.CreateAnewtomorrow.comhttps://www.Achievehealthusa.comCreate a fundamental change in the global community from a strictly reactive system of medicine that focuses on symptom and emergency treatment to a proactive system based on whole-being health as well as illness and injury prevention. Personally teach and influence at least one million people.We are a multifaceted Health and Wellness company that specializes in Corporate Wellness and Culture Consulting, Industry Speaking engagements and Continuing education for the industry.We Help corporations by solving the most costly problems they have with Productivity and Health Care while creating a culture that thrives on accomplishment and community.We help organizations think outside of the box and gain tools that allow them to be nimble and strong as tides and markets shift.We Up level the skills and tools of other practitioners by providing them continuing education that actually leads to greater success and standing in the business community.#Podcast #health #Education #CreateANewTomorrowJoshua Spodek 0:00  You can rely on authority if you have to, and what is authority? If not, the ability to hurt someone, if they don't do what you tell them to do? Well, that's almost an invitation for them to undermine that authority if they can, because I don't want you to hurt me. If I don't do what you tell me to do, but if you can find out why I if you can find something, a motivation inside me that you can connect with a task, then I'll want to do it for my intrinsic motivation. That's what I really work on. That's not very well taught in school. And, and yet, it's not that hard to teach.

Frederick was a great sport in allowing me to explore working on a patterns that happens sometimes but that I had let slide before.We started talking about nature, then his commitment. About halfway through I noticed that his motivation to the commitment from his first episode didn't seem to come from inside, which I believe led to him doing the task for extrinsic, not intrinsic, reasons, resulting in him doing his task perfunctorily.Then came the part that may be uncomfortable to listen to---or may be intriguing or fun. I can't tell because I was in the conversation. I tried to find a new sledding hill of his to ground a new activity. From then on we had a cordial conversation, but at cross-purposes. I don't think he understood what I was getting at and I couldn't see how to explain my point any better.I'm grateful to Frederick for maintaining his interest. Those interested in starting a podcast may find a lot to learn since guests often disconnect from their sledding hill and feel they have to fix something or do something big. I don't think we reached a resolution, but I think we valued the conversation. If you're considering starting a podcast in the This Sustainable Life family or to do The Spodek Method with many people, you'll find this conversation educational. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I’ve taught a half-dozen people the technique I use in this podcast---the hosts of the other branches of the This Sustainable Life podcast. They started calling it The Spodek Method, so now I do too. It's enabled me to reach amazing people, many of global renown, who enjoy the experience. It doesn't alone solve all the world's problems, but it works. The Spodek Method leads a person to share and act on environmental values.You can do it too with communities you’d like to join. You would contribute to a mission of changing culture from seeing stewardship and sustainability as a burden, chore, deprivation, and sacrifice to wanting to do it based on experience, expecting joy, fun, freedom, community, connecting, meaning and value. Why Learn the Spodek Method?Before: Deprivation, Sacrifice, Burden, ChoreAfter: Joy, Freedom, Fun, Community, Connection, Meaning, PurposeIf you would like to lead your community, try it. If you’d like to grow yourself, have others do it on you.This episode presents my teaching Jonathan Hardesty The Spodek Method during our second conversation. No planning. It happened spontaneously because we had a great rapport, he loved his experience, and was interested in leading a community craving leadership on sustainability instead of being told what to do.If you want to start a podcast branch and join the family, contact me. It takes practice, but once you start, you’ll love the experience, the team, and being changing culture.Think about the people you’d like to meet most in the world. The Spodek Method enables you to lead them in a way they enjoy and invite you into your life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is really two.Remember that he started art late in life, so the first two-thirds talks about art. Also his experience with his kids and family picking up trash. You'll enjoy hearing his and his family's joy doing it. I imagine you'll also feel sober about his unpleasant surprise at how much trash there was to pick up.I hope you'll feel inspired to pick up trash too. I think you'll find yourself surprised at how much more trash you'll find when you pick it up than you expect from just looking.The second part, I walk him through how to lead someone in my technique for this podcast. He's considering starting a branch in the This Sustainable Life family, specifically to reach evangelicals, especially in Texas, a group I'm enthusiastic to connect with. Most environmentalists approach them judgmentally and critically, which prompts division.As you'll hear, Jonathan and I expect to connect with them so they enjoy acting.If you're interested in starting a branch of This Sustainable Life, this episode shows you how. If you want to meet the top people in any areas you want to become a leader in, email me after listening to this episode. I want to start you off.Jonathan's page: Journey of an Absolute Rookie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we're talking about the methodology we use on the This Sustainable Life podcast to walk people through the process of taking on a meaningful personal sustainability challenge that will start you on your sustainability journey! Grab a friend and give it a try!Joshua Spodek: www.joshuaspodek.comJosh's TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/Qb3nwRZmKBoFind me online:Blog: https://verdantgrowth.blog/Live Eco Subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/LiveEcoYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24IiwM0BPQ-_3DVz2KnuVwTwitter: https://twitter.com/VerdantGrowthFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/realverdantgrowthInstagram: http://instagram.com/verdant.growthReddit: https://reddit.com/u/RealVerdantGrowth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joshua Spodek is the host of the award-winning podcast, This Sustainable Life (formerly Leadership and the Environment). He finds the joy and community that comes from living sustainably. His way of thinking about sustainability is the key to a more sustainable life: forget the doom and gloom and embrace the challenges and joy that come from living in a way that is more in balance with nature and yourself. Learn more about Joshua Spodek at http://joshuaspodek.com/. Find me online: This Sustainable Life: Solve For Nature Podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature Blog: https://verdantgrowth.blog/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24IiwM0BPQ-_3DVz2KnuVw Twitter: https://twitter.com/VerdantGrowth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realverdantgrowth Instagram: http://instagram.com/verdant.growth --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/solvefornature/support

Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA is a three-time TEDx speaker, #1 bestselling author of Initiative and Leadership Step by Step, host of the award-winning This Sustainable Life podcast, and professor at NYU. He holds a PhD in astrophysics and an MBA from Columbia, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate and helped launch a satellite (having emerged from some of Philadelphia's most dangerous neighborhoods). He left academia to found a venture to market an invention that showed animated images to subway riders between stations. This podcast features a discussion of addiction to technology and how that relates to the environment. 

Today we're talking about Joshua Spodek, PhD, MBA, host of This Sustainable Life podcast, award winning author of Leadership: Step by Step, and most environmentally-friendly person I know. He was my inspiration for starting Verdant Growth and is now teaching me to lead others on environment. He's an incredible person, and I highly recommend you watch/read/listen to everything he's posted. Find more at: http://joshuaspodek.com/Find me online:Blog: https://verdantgrowth.blog/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24IiwM0BPQ-_3DVz2KnuVwTwitter: https://twitter.com/VerdantGrowthFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/realverdantgrowthInstagram: http://instagram.com/verdant.growth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joshua Spodek fa ciò che ama, e mentre si impegna per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi cerca di godersi il viaggio. Nel suo blog, nei libri che ha scritto e negli episodi del suo podcast (This Sustainable Life) illustra con disarmante linearità ogni risultato raggiunto, ogni sfida con sé stesso, ogni esperimento, insieme a quel che ha funzionato o è stato un fallimento, alle emozioni provate e alle lezioni imparate. Perché, da astrofisico, Josh applica il metodo scientifico alla realtà: prove, errori, successi. La sostenibilità e i valori in cui si riconosce sono emersi così, lungo la strada, cercando quel che faceva risuonare le corde della sua anima. Fino a farlo divenire la struttura su cui si fonda l'integrità di ogni cosa: lavoro, relazioni, passioni, tempo libero. Anche quando si tratta di spegnere il computer e cantare. Questo episodio è in inglese.